PRIME MINISTER

Baroness Neville-Jones

Helen Goodman: To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish any correspondence he had with Baroness Neville-Jones on her appointment and resignation as a Minister.

David Cameron: I speak to Ministers and discuss the Government's priorities on appointment. Copies of the exchange of letters between Baroness Neville-Jones and me on her resignation from Government are available on the gov.uk website.

EDUCATION

Free Schools

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many vacancies were identified in free schools in the school census in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.

Edward Timpson: The school census of 2012 collected information relating to the first 24 free schools. This showed that 3,844 places were filled with 434 places unfilled (90% full). A year later, the 2013 school census showed that in these schools 5,342 places were filled with 390 unfilled (93% full).
	The 2013 school census collected information relating to 46 mainstream free schools that opened in September 2012. In these schools, 4,688 places were filled with 1,394 unfilled (77% full).
	It is natural that new schools will take time to reach capacity. However, the figures confirm what the National Audit Office found, which is that pupil recruitment against planned admissions improves after the first year of opening. The NAO reported that free schools filled around three-quarters of their planned admissions when they first opened and, that to date, an estimated 86% of free schools' total number of planned admission places have been filled.

SCOTLAND

Social Security Benefits

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government's welfare reforms on sick and disabled people in Scotland.

David Mundell: The Treasury regularly produces analysis of the cumulative impact of all coalition policies, including welfare.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 22 January 2014, Official Report, columns 189-90W, on electoral register: Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the number of attainers registered to vote the year (a) before and (b) after the introduction of individual electoral registration; and what assessment she has made of the reasons for any changes in registration.

Andrew Robathan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs Villiers), on 10 February 2014, Official Report, columns 391-92W. Individual registration was introduced in Northern Ireland in September 2002.

TRANSPORT

Bridges: River Thames

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what conversations he has had with ministerial colleagues and others about possible new Thames river crossings in East London.

Stephen Hammond: It is for the Mayor and Transport for London to decide which schemes in London to develop and promote.
	The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which various matters are discussed. Other Ministers regularly discuss London issues with ministerial colleagues and others, including senior officials from Transport for London. Possible new Thames river crossings in East London have not been raised at recent meetings.

Driver and Vehicle Agency: Coleraine

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the future of the Driver and Vehicle Agency centre in Coleraine.

Stephen Hammond: We were keen to listen to all representations from Northern Ireland elected representatives and consider the full implications before reaching such an important decision. Once a decision is made an announcement will be made as soon as possible.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) services he plans to move online; and whether the DVLA will continue to offer the choice of applying on paper for all services.

Stephen Hammond: The DVLA is currently developing a range of new online services. These include allowing drivers to view their own driver records, notify that they have disposed of a vehicle and retain personalised registration numbers.
	There are no plans to remove the choice of applying on paper for all its services, including the new online services currently being developed.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency moving more services online on (a) the elderly, (b) people with disabilities and (c) people in areas with limited broadband access.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has undertaken research and user insight to inform the development of its online services. This is targeted to ensure all groups are represented.
	The DVLA will only consider moving services online where there is a clear assisted digital service in place.
	There are no plans to remove the choice of applying on paper for all its services, including the new online services currently being developed.

Greengauge 21

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which of his Department's (a) non-departmental public bodies and (b) officials are members of Greengauge 21; whether his Department is a member of that organisation; and what fees each such member pays for membership.

Stephen Hammond: I can confirm that neither (a) the Department nor its non-departmental public bodies nor (b) officials, are members of Greengauge 21. No membership payments have been made to Greengauge 21.

London Midland

Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2014, Official Report, column 388W, on London Midland, what steps he is taking to ensure that the performance of London Midland is improved relative to that of other train operating companies.

Stephen Hammond: We do not monitor train operator performance relative against others under the franchise agreement; we monitor each operator's performance against benchmarks under the franchise agreement in absolute terms.
	Steps taken to improve the performance of an individual operator are monitored against these benchmarks and not relative to the industry.

Parking

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether he plans to bring forward proposals to increase the size of on-street parking bays;
	(2)  what conclusions he has reached following his consideration of changes to the (a) prescribed size and (b) other regulatory requirements in respect of parking bays; what plans he has to propose revisions to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002; and what his proposed timetable is for such proposals.

Robert Goodwill: The Department for Transport expects to consult on proposed changes to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions in the spring, and to bring its successor into force in 2015.
	Included are proposals to relax the current prescription for parking bay size and appearance. This will enable traffic authorities to place parking bays that are both of a size appropriate for their intended use, and sympathetic to the surrounding streetscape.

Railways: Finance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward proposals to increase access to capital for community rail projects.

Stephen Hammond: Community Rail lines remain a part of the national network and as a result have access to a number of existing funding streams. Additionally designated community rail routes have access to the Designated Community Rail Development Fund (DCRDF) which can support small scale capital projects such as waiting shelters, benches, improved Customer Information Systems (CIS) and CCTV.

Railways: Franchises

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the amount of (a) net franchise payment and (b) revenue support are for the extension of (i) Northern Rail's Northern franchise from April 2014 to February 2016, (ii) First TransPennine Express TransPennine franchise from April 2015 to February 2016, (iii) First Group's Great Western franchise from October 2013 to July 2016, (iv) Abellio's Greater Anglia franchise from July 2014 to October 2016, (v) London Midland franchise from September 2015 to June 2017, (vi) East Midlands franchise from April 2015 to October 2017, (vii) South Eastern franchise from April 2014 to June 2018, (viii) South West franchise from February 2017 to April 2019 and (ix) Cross Country franchise from April 2016 to November 2019.

Stephen Hammond: The negotiations for direct award contracts for the Northern, First TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, London Midland, East Midlands, South Eastern, South West and Cross Country franchises, as shown in the franchising programme published on 26 March 2013, are not yet concluded. As such, the amounts of net franchise payment and revenue support for these franchises are not finalised and cannot be disclosed.
	The Great Western franchise agreement announced on 3 October 2013 is a new direct award agreement, not an extension to the old First Great Western franchise agreement. Its term is from 13 October 2013 to 19 September 2015. This agreement will see a premium of at least £32.5 million paid to the Department over the 23 months of the contract. A profit sharing arrangement is in place, but the details of this are commercially confidential. The actual premium/subsidy figures will be published by the Office of Rail Regulation on its website, annually in arrears. Revenue support is not payable under this direct award franchise agreement.
	For the period from September 2015 the Great Western franchise is planned to be covered by a second direct award franchise agreement, as the first direct award franchise agreement may not exceed two years under the relevant procurement regulations. The amount of net franchise payment and revenue support payable for this second direct award is not known since the agreement has not yet been negotiated.

Rescue Services: Belfast

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Belfast was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in February 2014.

Stephen Hammond: During February 2014 Belfast Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on five occasions out of 56 shifts.
	Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

Rescue Services: Liverpool

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Liverpool was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in February 2014.

Stephen Hammond: During February 2014 Liverpool Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on 11 occasions out of 56 shifts.
	Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

Rescue Services: Stornoway

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Stornoway was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in February 2014.

Stephen Hammond: During February 2014 Stornoway Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels on five occasions out of 56 shifts.
	Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty's Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

Roads: Floods

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Highways Agency has recently considered (a) the vulnerability of motorways and trunk roads to flooding, (b) the potential for better warnings and strategic road clearance to avoid people becoming stranded and (c) plans to support people who become stranded.

Robert Goodwill: The strategic road network has proved to be very resilient during the recent period of unprecedented weather. There have been very few long-term closures of the strategic road network this winter, showing that there is a proportionate level of resilience built into the network.
	The Highways Agency operates a flood risk management strategy which sets out the framework for managing risks of flooding on and from the strategic road network. The Highways Agency is also working with the Environment Agency and the British Geological Survey to enhance its existing information on the risks of rising groundwater levels, presence of soluble rocks and surface water flooding.
	The Highways Agency uses real-time traffic flow data to provide live information to its customers and stakeholders. A variety of channels are used, including the Highways Agency's website, national and local radio and through social media. The Highways Agency also uses variable message signs on the strategic road network to inform road users about incidents and delays on the national and on significant local roads nearby.
	During the recent floods, the Highways Agency erected a number of hard signs along carriageways advising customers to tune into local radio for more information on the flooding and provided flooding specific advice on Information Points within motorway service areas. The Highways Agency will however be investigating the scope for further improvements to real-time information for drivers, following the recent recommendation of the Transport Select Committee review into winter resilience.
	The Highways Agency has 24/7 incident response arrangements to clear any incidents, which have been supplemented by proactive measures to keep routes open by pumping flood water away or installing temporary barriers. The feasibility of engineering more permanent mitigations to known risk locations will continue to be assessed.
	Following the Pitt review of the 2007 flooding, new procedures were introduced by the Highways Agency's Traffic Officer Service for releasing and turning around trapped traffic alongside an increase in the number of emergency turnaround points, egress points and central reserve crossing points.
	The Highways Agency has no dedicated resources to provide direct customer welfare in the event of traffic being trapped for an extended period. The agency's efforts are concentrated on getting the traffic moving as quickly as possible and it plays a full part in multi-agency major incident response plans which are owned by the Local Resilience Forums.

Roads: Northampton

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will release funds to enable improvements to the condition of the roads and reduction of the number of potholes in Northampton North constituency.

Robert Goodwill: I welcome the initiatives set up by Northamptonshire county council to help tackle the pothole problem in their area.
	The Department for Transport is providing more than £18 billion for highway maintenance for both the strategic and local road network between 2011 and 2021.
	This includes additional funding of £140 million we announced on 9 March 2014 to help councils undertake road damage caused by the severe wet winter the country has encountered. This funding will help address the issue of potholes, which we know can cause problems for all highway users, including cyclists.

Shipping: Employment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, columns 721-3W, on shipping: employment, for what reasons projections of future numbers of UK seafarers were not included in the UK Seafarer Statistics 2013; and if he will take steps to publish such projections of the UK seafarer workforce in 2014.

Stephen Hammond: Indicative projections of seafarer numbers were not published in the UK seafarer statistics 2013 due to an ongoing methodological review of the projections. The methodological review will assess whether the assumptions used to project seafarer numbers, based upon past recruitment and retention rates are robust. Projections of seafarer numbers are not National Statistics.

Shipping: Employment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, columns 721-3W, on shipping: employment, what discussions he has had with the Office for National Statistics on the (a) collection and (b) use of data on future numbers of UK seafarers in the annual Seafarer Statistics publication; and what the outcomes were of any such discussions.

Stephen Hammond: The Department has not held any discussions with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the (a) collection or (b) use of data on future numbers of UK seafarers in the annual Seafarer Statistics publication.
	The Office for National Statistics has a statistical methodology unit who are able to advise on specialist statistical matters and during the course of the Department's review of Seafarer Statistics they may be consulted.

Shipping: Employment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, columns 721-3W, on shipping: employment, what recent forecast his Department has made of the number of UK seafarers active at sea in the next 20 years;
	(2)  what baseline data his Department uses to forecast UK seafarer numbers over the next two decades;
	(3)  what baseline data his Department uses to forecast the number of trainee UK seafarers who will be required to maintain a skilled seafarer workforce over the next decade.

Stephen Hammond: Indicative projections of UK Seafarers from 2011 to 2031 were published by the Department on the 26 February 2012. The details of these projections and the data used in their production are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/seafarer-statistics-2011
	The Department for Transport makes further reference to the independent review commissioned of the economic requirement for trained seafarers in UK, undertaken by Oxford Economics and Deloitte, which contains extensive forecasts for the next decade. The results of this report, published in December 2011, are given at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3540/economic-requirement-report.pdf

Shipping: Employment

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2014, Official Report, columns 721-3W, on shipping: employment, 
	(1)  if he will take steps to increase the amount of data his Department (a) collects and (b) publishes on (i) trainee and (ii) employed UK seafarers;
	(2)  whether he has initiated a review of the (a) collection and (b) use of data projecting future numbers of UK seafarers in the annual Seafarer Statistics publication.

Stephen Hammond: The Department intends to undertake a review into both the collection of and use of data in the annual Seafarer Statistics publication. This review is at the initiation stage and the intention is to engage a wide range of interested parties.

Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton Railway Line

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect of hybrid trains operating between Aberystwyth and Birmingham International on the need for electrification of the line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.

Stephen Hammond: No such assessment has been made by the Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin). Further electrification of the rail network is under consideration by the rail industry. Network Rail is currently updating the industry electrification strategy which will inform future Government decisions on further investment in electrification.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Lambeth Palace

Andrew Selous: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will estimate the potential savings from collaboration with Lambeth Palace on conservation of archives; and if the Commission will confirm that there are no obstacles to such collaboration on the grounds that Lambeth Palace is a faith organisation.

John Thurso: The Parliamentary Archives is a bicameral service led by the House of Lords. It has collaborated very successfully with Lambeth Palace Library in the past; for example, through mutual lending of items for exhibition and the sharing of professional expertise, and is of course keen to continue this aspect of their relationship.
	The Archives is currently developing a business case for the future of its accommodation. A long list of 36 options was assessed against a range of strategic benefits sought from any relocation outside the Palace of Westminster. The option of joining forces with another nearby archive or archives to create a shared service in a single building was ruled out as it did not score highly enough in terms of fostering a greater understanding of Parliament among the public, or providing benefits to other parliamentary heritage collections.
	Given that a shared service would not meet the Archives' requirements, no estimate of savings has been made.

Parliamentary Tours

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, for how long Tour Guides Ltd has held a contract with the Palace for commercial tours; and what the value of that contract has been in each year of its operation.

John Thurso: The first contract with. Tour Guides Ltd started in summer 2000. The current contract with Tour Guides Ltd began on 14 April 2010.
	Total expenditure by Parliament with Tour Guides Ltd for the last three years was as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Total (£) 
			 2010-11 672,286 
			 2011-12 718,513 
			 2012-13 767,263 
			 2013-14 898,980 
		
	
	Since the contract was awarded, there has been an increase in the services provided by Tour Guides Ltd as a result of the introduction of year-round Saturday tours and new specialist tours. The contract is subject to public tender, and has recently been retendered.

Pest Control

Anne McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, 
	(1)  what discussions the Commission has had with hon. Members on the effects of mice on the Parliamentary Estate; and what assessment the Commission has made of whether there has been an increase in the numbers of mice on the Estate over the last three years;
	(2)  how much the Commission spent on countering the negative effects of infestation by mice on the Parliamentary Estate in each year since 2010;
	(3)  what contracts the Commission has held with firms to catch mice on the Parliamentary Estate in each year since 2010; and what the value of these contracts is;
	(4)  what estimate the Commission has made of the number of mice present in (a) the Members' Tea Room and (b) the Terrace Cafeteria.

John Thurso: The size, age and location of the Parliamentary Estate make controlling mice and pests a major undertaking. As well as proactively dealing with mice on the Estate, the pest control team responds to comments received from Members and other occupants of the Estate by focusing on particular areas where mice are a problem.
	The number of mouse sightings reported on the Estate over the last four years has been:
	2010: 246
	2011: 195
	2012: 254
	2013: 221
	The following sightings of mice have been recorded in the Members' Tea Room and the Terrace Cafeteria.
	
		
			  2013 2014 (to date) 
			 Members' Tea Room 3 3 
			 Terrace Cafeteria 9 0 
		
	
	Pest proofing work was undertaken in the Christmas recess in the Terrace Cafeteria and in the February recess in the Members' Tea Room. This work includes sealing entry points to stop mice getting in.
	The cost of pest control (including mice) in 2012-13 was £73,522.12, shared 60:40 with the House of Lords.
	Pest control on the Estate is currently contracted from Shield Pest Control. A full briefing on pest control, including the costs, is published on the Parliament website at:
	http://www.parliament.uk/documents/facilities/Pest-control-on-the-Parliamentary-Estate.pdf

Pest Control

Anne McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, 
	(1)  what assessment the Commission has made of the potential effectiveness of a cat in reducing infestation by mice on the Parliamentary Estate; and what steps it has taken in response to that assessment;
	(2)  what discussions the Commission has had with representatives of Number 10 Downing Street on the effectiveness of housing a cat permanently on the premises to deal with mouse infestations;
	(3)  what discussions the Commission has held on the offer of a cat from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to counter the mouse infestation on the Parliamentary Estate; and what decisions it has reached on that offer.

John Thurso: Mr Speaker wrote to the hon. Member on 8 November 2013 setting out the Commission's view. Practical problems include:
	A cat would be at risk from the 1,748 poisonous bait stations used across the estate to control pest populations.
	The effect on people who are allergic to cats.
	There would be no reliable way to stop the cat getting on to the busy roads which surround us, nor of looking after the cat responsibly.
	The likelihood that well-meaning colleagues would feed a cat, making it unlikely that it would catch mice.
	The Director General of Facilities wrote to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in similar terms on 3 February to decline the offer to house a Battersea rescue cat on the parliamentary estate.
	There has been no discussion with Number 10 Downing street on the effectiveness of housing a cat permanently on the premises to deal with mouse infestations.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Common Agricultural Policy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the Rural Development pillar within the common agricultural policy envelope has been allocated in (a) cash and (b) percentage terms to date.

George Eustice: The total budget available from the European Union under the common agricultural policy for the current Rural Development programme for England (RDPE) is €3.225 billion. The amount spent in cash to the end of December 2013 is €2.625 billion, representing 81%.

Dredging: Somerset

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what response his Department made to the recommendation of the Association of Drainage Authorities in July 2013 on dredging key rivers in Somerset.

Dan Rogerson: We are not aware of any specific recommendations made by the association at that time in relation to dredging in Somerset.

Emergencies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government has established a programme to support and encourage individuals and communities to be better prepared and more self-reliant during emergencies.

Brandon Lewis: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	Yes. In 2011, after consulting communities, the Cabinet Office set up the Community Resilience Programme. This enables communities and individuals to better access local resources and expertise to help themselves in an emergency, and to complement the response of the emergency services. A series of online resources have been developed and are available at:
	www.gov.uk
	This work was shown to good effect in the recent severe weather, with flood wardens in Cornwall and other areas helping vulnerable residents protect their properties. Part of the 20 year plan for the Somerset Levels and Moors is to enhance community resilience to enable Somerset to better withstand future flooding.

Floods: EU Grants and Loans

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under what parameters the UK is eligible for funding from the EU's Solidarity Fund; and whether he plans to make an application for funding under the Fund following recent cases of severe weather.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had on the UK receiving funding from the European Union Solidarity Fund following the recent floods.

Dan Rogerson: EU Solidarity Fund money is offered to all member states, but is subject to a number of eligibility requirements, including on the level of direct damages. Comparing the damage today to the 2007 floods, our assessment is we have not met these high thresholds.
	The Government continues to explore whether other external mechanisms are available to support the existing package of Government support.

Floods: Housing

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial assistance his Department makes available to enable people to protect homes from flooding; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: holding answer 26 February 2014
	Following the Prime Minister's announcement on 20 February of the Repair and Renew Grant, help will be available for people whose properties have suffered internal damage from flooding since the beginning of December 2013. The grant of up to £5,000 will contribute to make improvements to the fabric of their premises that would help reduce the impact and cost of any subsequent flooding. The scheme, which only applies to England, opens on 1 April 2014.
	Further Government funding for flood risk management is channelled as grant in aid through regional flood and coastal committees who prioritise schemes on the basis of local need. Local schemes involving installation of property level measures into groups of properties can be developed by the Lead Local Flood Authority or the Environment Agency. Local authorities can also provide discretionary assistance for repairs and adaptations to properties which could include resilient repair and resistance measures.

Floods: Housing

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many houses built on a flood plain have flooded in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Greater London in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA does not hold information specifically on how many houses have been built on flood plains and flooded in the last 10 years in England, Greater London and Wales. In the case of Wales, flood risk management policy is a devolved responsibility.
	Development in areas of flood risk is only permitted exceptionally where there are wider sustainability considerations, and must in all cases be safe, must not increase flood risk elsewhere, and, where possible, overall flood risk should be reduced. Local planning authorities (LPA) might consider development in flood risk areas necessary for wider sustainability considerations. The Environment Agency are a statutory consultee for such planning applications and will provide advice to the LPA. Where the agency knows the final outcome, over 95% of planning decisions are in line with the agency's advice.

Floods: Housing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether flood risk has been made part of the mandatory search requirements for property purchase; and whether flood risk has formed part of home information packs.

Kris Hopkins: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, column 41W.
	This Government has cut the cost of moving home by abolishing the requirement to commission a home information pack. The red tape increased the cost of selling a home, deterring sellers from putting their homes on the market, and the Packs were not trusted by buyers, so duplicating costs.
	In this context, the Pitt Review recommendation on home information packs is redundant.

Natural Disasters

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether his Department has begun its systematic programme to reduce the disruption of essential services resulting from natural hazards by publishing a national framework and policy statement, setting out the process, timescales and expectations;
	(2)  what work Government departments and the Environment Agency have undertaken with infrastructure operators to identify the vulnerability and risk of assets to flooding; and if he will publish a summary of the analysis found in sector resilience plans;
	(3)  what work his Department and infrastructure operators have done to build a level of resilience into critical infrastructure assets that ensures continuity during a worst-case flood event;
	(4)  whether the Government has extended the duty to undertake business continuity planning to infrastructure operating Category 2 responders to a standard equivalent to BS25999, which is ensured through an annual benchmarking exercise within each sector;
	(5)  whether the Government has established a Cabinet Committee with a remit to improve the country's ability to deal with flooding and implement the recommendations of the Review following the 2007 floods;
	(6)  whether the Government has established a National Resilience Forum to facilitate national level multi-agency planning for flooding and other emergencies.

Oliver Letwin: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	These recommendations were put forward by Sir Michael Pitt following the floods of summer 2007 as part of the independent Pitt Review. This review included 92 recommendations aimed at improving the way the risk of flooding is managed in the UK. The final progress report on the implementation of these recommendations was published on 27 January 2012. The full report can be found on Gov.uk here:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-s-response-to-sir-michael-pitts-review-of-the-summer-2007-floods-final-progress-report
	Since the Pitt Review was published in 2008, Cabinet Office, working with other Government Departments, has followed a systematic programme to enhance the resilience of the UK. As such the majority of recommendations made by Sir Michael Pitt have now been implemented. This includes the production of Sector Resilience Plans, classified documents which have been annually since 2010, the establishment of a Cabinet Committee on Flooding, and ongoing work with industry and local resilience forums to ensure essential services can continue in the face of disruptive challenges, including worst case flooding events.

Nature Conservation

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will rewrite the counter-invasive species strategy to reduce the cost of management of non-native invasive species.

George Eustice: In September 2013, DEFRA commenced a review of the Invasive Non-native Species Framework Strategy for Great Britain. The review is expected to complete this summer, at which point we will publish a revised strategy.

Poultry

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had on poultry beak trimming with EU officials; and what assessment he has made of the opinion expressed by the National Farmers Union on this matter.

George Eustice: Neither DEFRA's Ministers nor officials have held discussions with the European Commission about beak trimming. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is represented on the Beak Trimming Action Group, which comprises representatives from industry, welfare groups, DEFRA, scientific and veterinary professions looking to develop an action plan and implement strategies to reduce injurious pecking in flocks of laying hens. The views of the NFU and others will feed into an evidence review in 2015 on whether to ban beak trimming of laying hens.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Immunity From Prosecution

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Attorney-General whether his Department is aware of any undertakings of (a) amnesty, (b) immunity and (c) implied immunity from prosecution given to any (i) former or serving members of the security forces, (ii) person who has acted as an agent of the security forces or Government intelligence services and (iii) member of a paramilitary organisation.

Dominic Grieve: The scope of the information requested is very wide ranging. In the absence of any parameters for a search of its records, investigating if any relevant material is held by the Department would require an extensive manual examination of a very large number of archived files. It would not be possible to do this without incurring a disproportionate cost.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  when he will publish statistics on the performance of the Child Maintenance Service in collecting statutory maintenance liabilities under the 2012 scheme; and whether such statistics will include information on the amount and proportion of liabilities not collected each month;
	(2)  whether his Department plans to carry out a public consultation on the statistics being developed to give information on the new 2012 statutory child maintenance scheme.

Steve Webb: Experimental statistics on the 2012 scheme administered by the Child Maintenance Service were published in November showing results for August and September 2013. These can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/260599/2012-child-maintenance-scheme.pdf
	An update to the experimental statistics will be released on 26 March 2014.
	These statistics are still in the early stages of development with assurance ongoing. Management information regarding compliance and collections is currently under development and, while not included in the next publication, once assured, will be included in future experimental statistics publications.
	While we always welcome feedback on our publications, we are at a very early stage in the development of 2012 scheme statistics and as such have yet to plan any formal consultation.

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish the results of the reclassification of arrears trial run by the Child Maintenance Group which began in June 2012 and ended in October 2013.

Steve Webb: While the initial trial of the process of reclassifying arrears has now concluded, the department is still considering the results and how best the process might be used in future. At present there are no plans to publish the results of the trial but we will consider this as part of our wider publications strategy.

Employment Schemes: Chelmsford

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Chelmsford constituency have found work through back-to-work schemes in each of the last five years; and if he will make statement.

Esther McVey: The information as requested is not available.

Employment: Disability

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what support his Department provides to assist people with a disability to return to employment; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle disability discrimination in the workplace.

Michael Penning: The Government is committed to ensuring that all disabled people have the opportunities, chances and support that they need to get a job and remain in employment and there is a range of provision to help them including Access to Work and Work Choice. In addition, disability employment advisers in Jobcentre Plus can provide support and advice for disabled people who need help finding and retaining employment.
	For disabled people who need help to return to work, the Government is introducing the Health and Work Service in late 2014, which will provide occupational health advice and support for employees, employers and GPs to help individuals with a health condition to stay in or return to work.
	In December 2013, the Government published ‘the disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far’. This paper reiterates the Government's strong commitment to enabling more disabled people and people with health conditions to get into, stay in and progress in work and sets out a range of proposals to further improve our employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions.
	Disabled people are protected against disability discrimination in the workplace by the Equality Act 2010, which makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against disabled employees and potential employees. An employer is also required to make any reasonable adjustments to any element of the recruitment process and/or job which places a disabled applicant or employee at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person.

International Citizen Service

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that British nationals taking part in the International Citizen's Service are exempt from undergoing the habitual residency test.

Esther McVey: The International Citizen Service is designed to allow individuals, who might not otherwise be afforded the opportunity to volunteer overseas, a structured route of doing so. International Citizen Service volunteers are usually abroad for between 10 and 12 weeks. The habitual residence test already allows for short periods abroad, of up to 13 weeks, to be disregarded in such circumstances.

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what headings made up the Jobcentre Plus administrative budget in each of the last five years; and how much was spent on (a) staff salaries, (b) premises, (c) IT and (d) external contractors for jobseeker support in each of those years.

Michael Penning: Jobcentre Plus ceased to be an Executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions from October 2011 consequently no budget was allocated from 2012-13. Audited information on the administrative budget and spend by category can be found in the Jobcentre Plus annual report and accounts for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, the last years these accounts were lodged.
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130102205834/http://www.dwp.gov.uk/about-dwp/customer-delivery/jobcentre-plus/publications-jobcentre-plus/

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budget for Jobcentre Plus was in the last financial year; and how it was allocated between the regions of the UK.

Michael Penning: Jobcentre Plus ceased to exist as an Executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions from October 2011. No budget has therefore been allocated in the last financial year. When Jobcentre Plus existed as an Executive agency, budget was not allocated on a regional basis.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what conclusions his Department has drawn from the jobseeker's allowance skills conditionality pilot.

Esther McVey: It is important to attend to skills needs and support those with low levels of skills or qualifications. Where this has been identified as a barrier to getting or keeping a job, jobcentre advisers can refer claimants to careers advice, to an initial interview with a training provider followed by training, or direct to training to help them obtain the skills they need.
	Where claimants are referred to careers advice or training, skills conditionality is designed to ensure that they turn up and do not drop out without good reason. Skills conditionality policy puts activity to address an employability skills need onto the same basis as jobseeking activities and other benefit conditionality requirements.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker's allowance customers had their benefit sanctioned as a result of not applying for 50 jobs per week in 2013.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.
	The Jobseekers Act provides that a person claiming JSA must actively seek employment in each week of their claim. This means that they must take those steps each week which are reasonable in their case, and which offer the best prospects of securing employment. Job search activity and the number of jobs per week to apply for is not set generically, but is agreed specifically with each individual in their claimant commitment or jobseekers agreement.
	When an actively seeking employment doubt is identified the case must be referred to a labour market decision maker to consider the evidence provided.

Local Welfare Assistance Fund

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the removal of the Local Welfare Assistance Fund on (a) child poverty and (b) homelessness.

Steve Webb: In the next spending round period, from April 2015, central government will continue to provide support to local authorities through general funds, as part of the coalition Government's commitment to reducing ring-fencing and ending top-down Whitehall control.
	It was always the intention that 2014-15 would be the last year of separate funding for local welfare provision from the Department for Work and Pensions. Councils will continue to provide support to those in their community who face financial difficulties or who find themselves in unavoidable circumstances.
	In contrast to a centralised grant system that was poorly targeted, councils can now choose how to best support local welfare needs within their areas. No assessment has been made of the effects of this change on (a) child poverty or (b) homelessness.
	The Government remains committed to our goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020 and to the Child Poverty Act. Our approach, set out in the draft Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17, is to tackle the root causes of child poverty, rather than simply funding extra welfare payments.
	The Government has invested £470 million in homelessness prevention over four years and delivered 170,000 new affordable homes over the past three years. By maintaining a strong legislative safety net in England, homeless families with dependent children are given priority homelessness assistance.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people received a first lower tier sanction which was subsequently overturned in the most recent year for which data are available.

Esther McVey: DWP statisticians identified an error in the JSA sanctions appeal outcomes data. In line with normal practice for official statistics the Department has withdrawn this particular set of information. The data will be made available again as soon as possible pending investigations by DWP statisticians who will, if necessary, make corrections to this data.
	For further information see here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions

Telephone Services

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions his Department has had with mobile telephone companies on making mobile telephone calls to the Child Maintenance Options Service 0800 telephone line free of charge.

Steve Webb: There have been no discussions with mobile telephone companies on making mobile telephone calls to the Child Maintenance Options Service 0800 telephone line free of charge.
	Callers contacting the Child Maintenance Options Service from a mobile phone are informed that calls from BT landlines are free of charge.

Telephone Services

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of calls to the telephone lines operated by (a) the Child Support Agency, (b) the Child Maintenance Service and (c) the Child Maintenance Options Service are from mobile telephones.

Steve Webb: For the period January 2013 to December 2013:
	(a) 38.4% of calls to the telephone lines operated by the Child Support Agency were from mobile telephones.
	(b) 37.4% of calls to the telephone lines operated by the Child Maintenance Service were from mobile telephones.
	Information for the proportion of calls to the telephone lines operated by the Child Maintenance Options Service from mobile telephones is not readily available and has not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether it is feasible to produce the statistics requested within the disproportionate cost limit, and if so, will issue them in an official statistics release in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	Note
	Data for the Child Support Agency and the Child Maintenance Service were sourced from BT Analyser.

Welfare State

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on devolution of welfare support services, commissioning and performance management to (a) combined authorities and (b) local enterprise partnerships.

Esther McVey: The Government wants to see a radical shift in the balance of power away from Whitehall and aim to push power downwards and outwards to the lowest possible level, including local councils, local communities and individuals. The Department's commitment to localism ensures that local services are both responsive to individual and local needs (including employers) and are effective in supporting people finding, moving and progressing through work.
	We are already working with local enterprise partnerships supporting them in the development of their strategic economic plans to ensure initiatives for skills and increasing employment enable local economic growth, as well as help people find, stay and progress in work.

Work Capability Assessment

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the accuracy of decision-making during the initial assessment phase of the work capability assessment.

Michael Penning: In recent years we have through the Appeals Reform Programme been taking steps to improve decision making across the board. These include:
	Reviewing and enhancing the existing quality assurance programme; providing improved learning and development; enhancing the existing guidance for decision makers.
	The introduction of Mandatory Reconsideration. This will ensure decisions are looked at again thoroughly, giving claimants every opportunity to provide new evidence much earlier in the process, avoiding unnecessary and costly appeals.
	Working with Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service we now receive summary reasons of First-tier Tribunal ESA decisions—feedback which is already feeding through to the quality of initial decision making.
	Responding positively to the recommendations made by Professor Harrington.
	Overall we are developing a more structured and consistent way of assuring decision quality. The Department recognises the importance of encouraging its decision-makers to get it right first time and of ensuring that we continue to innovate and improve the current system to that end.

CABINET OFFICE

Cobra

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what points he has identified from the recent flooding crisis to enable COBR to work more effectively.

Francis Maude: COBR has met regularly over the past three months to ensure that affected communities get the support they need quickly and effectively.
	As the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), announced in his written statement to House on 6 March 2014, Official Report, column 54WS, in future whenever there is a significant risk we will use COBR systems to ensure that all organisations at national and local level are adequately prepared and ready to respond.

Emergencies

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the Cabinet Office has provided advice to ensure that all local resilience forums have effective and linked websites providing public information before, during and after an emergency.

Oliver Letwin: These recommendations were put forward by Sir Michael Pitt following the floods of summer 2007 as part of the independent Pitt Review. This review included 92 recommendations aimed at improving the way the risk of flooding is managed in the UK. The final progress report on the implementation of these recommendations was published on 27 January 2012. The full report can be found on Gov.uk here:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-s-response-to-sir-michael-pitts-review-of-the-summer-2007-floods-final-progress-report
	Since the Pitt Review was published in 2008, Cabinet Office, working with other Government Departments, has followed a systematic programme to enhance the resilience of the UK. As such the majority of recommendations made by Sir Michael Pitt have now been implemented. This includes the production of Sector Resilience Plans, classified documents which have been annually since 2010, the establishment of a Cabinet Committee on Flooding, and ongoing work with industry and local resilience forums to ensure essential services can continue in the face of disruptive challenges, including worst case flooding events.

Emergencies

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will review his Department's civil contingencies response.

Oliver Letwin: As part of the UK's integrated approach to emergency management, the Cabinet Office works with other Government Departments, devolved administrations, emergency responders and other organisations to enhance the UK's ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. The effectiveness of these arrangements are regularly reviewed.

HMS Dasher

Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether any records relating to the loss of the escort aircraft carrier HMS Dasher in March 1943 have (a) been retained from transfer to and (b) remain closed in the National Archives; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Cabinet Office holds no records relating to HMS Dasher.

Housing

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how the Office of National Statistics (ONS) can best estimate the number and trends of the stock in the leasehold domestic premises in (a) Worthing West constituency, (b) Worthing borough, (c) Arun district, (d) West Sussex county, (e) South East England region, (f) England and (g) England and Wales; what data collection the ONS makes on housing tenure types; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated March 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how the Office for National Statistics (ONS) can best estimate the number and trends of the stock in the leasehold domestic premises in (a) Worthing West constituency, (b) Worthing borough, (c) Arun district, (d) West Sussex county, (e) South East England region, (f) England and (g) England and Wales; what data collection the ONS makes on housing tenure types; and if he will make a statement. (191128)
	ONS does not ask questions about the type of lease and therefore it is not possible to estimate the stock of leasehold domestic premises from ONS household surveys.
	A series of questions are asked on the majority of ONS household surveys to establish Housing Tenure. These questions include;
	Details about the accommodation
	(Owned outright; being bought with a mortgage or loan; part rent, part mortgage, rented, rent free, squatting)
	Is the accommodation tied to a job?
	Who is the landlord?
	(Housing association, charitable trust or local housing company; employing organisation; another organisation; relative of household member; individual employers; other individual private landlord)
	Is the accommodation furnished?
	The number of bedrooms (not all surveys collect information on the number of bedrooms).

LIBOR

Stuart Andrew: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the Autumn Statement of 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 1106, which police service-related charities will receive funds from LIBOR fines in 2014; and what criteria are used to determine which organisations receive such funds.

Nick Hurd: In the autumn statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced that LIBOR fines will be invested in providing support for emergency services personnel and their dependents who are injured, suffering ill-health, or bereaved, during or as a result of active service for the public. £10 million will be sustainably invested through Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise organisations across the UK.

Public Sector: Land

Martin Vickers: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the amount of surplus public land sold to support house building and development to date.

Francis Maude: Since 2010 the Government has raised over £1.25 billion in capital receipts for the taxpayer through freehold land and property sales.
	In the 2013 spending round we committed to identifying at least £5 billion of land and property assets for disposal between 2015 and 2020. The Strategic Land and Property Review, led by the Government Property Unit (GPU), will identify sites to release into the private sector to further support house building and development across the country.

Unemployment: Young People

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of 24-year-olds have not been in employment, education or training but have been looking for and available for work for (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five and (f) six of the last six years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated March 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of 24-year-olds have not been in employment, education or training but looking for and available for work for (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five and (f) six of the last six years. 190979
	People not in employment who are looking for and available for work are defined as unemployed according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Unemployment estimates for those Not in Employment, Education or Training ('NEET') can be derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). It is not possible to provide estimates for the categories requested as the survey only records the respondent's labour market activity at the point of interview. Therefore previous instances of unemployment and their duration during the last six years are not available.
	The table below provides estimates based on those reporting that they are currently unemployed and their duration of unemployment. These are not seasonally adjusted. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. These are indicated in the table.
	
		
			 Unemployed people aged 24 years who are not in education, employment or training ('NEET'), by duration October to December 2013, United Kingdom 
			 Thousand and percentage 
			  Level Percentage of population 
			 Less than a year 51 ***5.6 
			 1 year or more1 32 ***3.6 
			    
			 Total unemployed 83 ***9.2 
			 1 Due to the small sample size it is not possible to provide estimates for individual years. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 = CV < 5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ? 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS).

TREASURY

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will discuss with the charitable and third sectors extending to those sectors the tax advantages offered by the seed enterprise investment scheme.

David Gauke: The Government is introducing the Social Investment Tax Relief in Finance Bill 2014. It extends the venture capital tax incentives to investment in social enterprises.
	The new scheme is based on the Enterprise Investment Scheme rather than the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme to enable more organisations to benefit. Unlike either of those schemes it will also be available for debt as well as equity investments. The rate of income tax relief will be announced at Budget.

Bank Lending: Businesses

Mark Tami: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the level of bank lending to businesses since May 2010.

Sajid Javid: Since 2010, the Government has introduced several measures aimed at improving lending to businesses, notably the Business Bank and the Funding for Lending Scheme. While there is still some way to go, recent evidence shows that lending has picked up, and credit conditions have improved for businesses of all sizes.
	In November 2013, the Government and the Bank of England announced that the Funding for Lending Scheme will be refocused on business lending, particularly to SMEs.

High-value Properties: Taxation

Mike Freer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the level of taxation on high-value property.

David Gauke: The Government introduced a new Stamp Duty Land Tax (or SDLT) rate of 7% rate applying to residential properties worth more than £2 million at Budget 2012.
	The Government has also taken robust action against the avoidance of SDLT to ensure that those buying expensive residential properties using corporate envelopes pay their fair share.

Borrowing: UK Economy

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential effect of further borrowing on the UK economy.

Nicky Morgan: High levels of public debt risk undermining growth and economic stability in the UK through a number of channels, by: (i) crowding out private investment and increasing uncertainty; (ii) limiting the scope of the economy to absorb the impact of future shocks; (iii) high debt interest payments which crowd out spending on public services. As a result the UK faces a long-term challenge in reducing debt to sustainable levels. The Government is committed to returning the public finances to a sustainable position.

Economic Growth

Tim Yeo: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the rate of economic growth.

Nicky Morgan: Over the year to the fourth quarter of 2013, UK gross domestic product grew by 2.7%. This is the highest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2008, and, along with Canada and Japan, the fastest growth in the G7 economies.

Small Businesses

George Freeman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent fiscal steps he has taken to support small businesses.

David Gauke: Government is very supportive of small businesses, and demonstrated this support again at autumn statement 2013 by extending the small business rate relief, which takes 350,000 small businesses out of business rates, until April 2015. A new £2,000 employment allowance for businesses and charities will be in place from April 2014, helping up to 1.25 million employers reduce their national insurance bill and take on new staff. We have also increased the funding available for the British Business Bank's new schemes to £1.25 billion, which will improve access to finance for UK SMEs.

Budgets

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what comparative assessment he has made of the impact on (a) women and (b) men of (i) the measures in the Autumn Statement 2013 and (ii) the combination of measures in the Autumn Statement and Budget in 2010 to 2012 and the 2013 Budget; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: The Government has taken full account of the impact on women and men of individual measures taken at each fiscal event since it took office in 2010.
	For instance, women have especially benefited from a series of Budget announcements since 2010 to increase the personal allowance—due to reach the promised £10,000 level in April 2014. 58% of the 2.7 million low earners who have been taken out of income tax altogether since 2010 are women.

Economic Policy

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of his long-term economic plans on (a) employment and (b) tax paid by individuals in (i) Kettering constituency and (ii) the UK since May 2010.

Nicky Morgan: Since May 2010, employment in the UK has increased by 1.2 million. Latest data available show that employment in Kettering has increased by 4,800 (or 11%) between the 12 months to March 2010 and September 2013.
	Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, the total of income tax, capital gains tax and national insurance contributions grew by 1.7%. In 2011-12, Kettering constituents had an income tax liability of £192 million in tax.

Exports

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's largest export industry by value is.

David Gauke: The UK's largest exporting industry for 2013 by value is: machinery and transport equipment. This industry has a combined EU and non-EU exports value of £110.2 billion.1
	This value is provisional until July 2014 when the 2013 trade statistics data is finalised.
	1Source:
	Overseas Trade Statistics, HM Revenue and Customs.

Floods: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether recently announced additional funding for anti-flooding measures has a consequential funding implication for Wales.

Danny Alexander: The additional funding which has been made available in response to the recent floods is being provided from existing contingencies. The devolved Administrations will have already received Barnett consequentials on this spending through the normal spending review process.
	However, if any additional funding outside of these settlements is provided then Barnett consequentials will be provided in the usual way.

Internet

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what services his Department provides that are (a) available online only and (b) planned to move to online only.

Nicky Morgan: Due to the nature of its work, the Treasury does not provide any services or transactions that are subject to the Digital by Default agenda. But the Department does use a variety of digital tools and channels to provide clear, engaging information about its work, and the Department is working on opening up its policy-making processes to make better use of online channels.

Mortgages: Chelmsford

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many house sales have been completed in Chelmsford constituency using the Help to Buy scheme since that scheme's introduction.

Sajid Javid: On 2 January, the Prime Minister announced that in the first three months of the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme more than 6,000 people had put in offers on homes and applied for a Help to Buy mortgage. The mortgages, once approved, would represent nearly £1 billion of new lending to aspiring home owners who may have previously found the property market out of reach because of the size of the deposit required.
	Now the scheme is open, the Government is collecting data on the mortgages supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme and will report in due course.

Revenue and Customs: Newry

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the future of the HM Revenue and Customs centre in Newry.

David Gauke: Newry is one of 21 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) locations across the UK where some employees were offered and have accepted voluntary exits. No decision has been made about office closures and HMRC will keep all occupied offices open in these locations until at least April 2015, in line with previous commitments.
	Although there has been no decision to close the general HMRC office at Newry, the department confirms that the Enquiry Centre in Newry will close later this year. This is a result of the announcement made on 12 February that HMRC would be introducing a new service, supporting customers who need extra help getting their tax and benefits right. This service will offer customers who need extra help more in-depth support on the phone and a mobile advisory service if they need a face-to-face appointment. HMRC will roll out the new service across the UK from 31 May 2014, followed by the closure of Enquiry Centre network by 30 June 2014.

Staff

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of staff recruited to his Department since 5 May 2010 identified their ethnicity as (a) white British and (b) from a minority ethnic background.

Nicky Morgan: The following table gives the proportion of staff recruited to the Treasury who identified their ethnicity as (a) white British and (b) from a minority ethnic background.
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  White BME Data not known 
			 2008-09 67.5 16.5 16.0 
			 2009-10 61.3 15.9 22.8 
			 2010-11 79 20.5 0.5 
			 2011-12 67 22.5 10.5 
			 2012-13 67.2 16.6 16.2

Taxation

Guy Opperman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal steps he has taken to reduce the amount of tax paid by families.

David Gauke: As part of our long term economic plan this Government is cutting taxes for hardworking people.
	Since 2010 the Government has increased the income tax personal allowance by over 50% to £10,000 in 2014-15. As a result a family with two basic rate taxpayers will pay up to £1,410 less income tax than in 2010-11. This tax cut also means that this Government will have taken 2.7 million low earners out of income tax altogether by April this year.
	In addition, we will introduce an income tax allowance for married couples worth up to £200 a year in 2015-16, have provided funding to local authorities to freeze council tax in every year of this Parliament and have frozen fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament.
	We can take these steps because we have a long term plan to secure Britain's future.
	These tax cuts mean people keep more of the money that they earn, and can feel more financially secure for the future.

Taxation: Environment Protection

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will fix the carbon floor price for the next period.

Nicky Morgan: Carbon price support rates necessary to meet the carbon price floor trajectory are announced two years in advance. The carbon price support rate for 2016-17 will therefore be announced at Budget 2014.

Taxation: Self-assessment

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to warn people of the dangers of using lookalike websites when completing their tax return online; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HMRC takes customer confidence in their online services very seriously. HMRC will continue to publish information through various media channels to help point customers to free to use online services. We are also working with industry experts to mitigate the risks posed by copycat websites to our customers.
	The issue of copycat websites is not limited to tax returns and a relevant update has been published at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/misleading-websites-to-face-the-squeeze

DEFENCE

Armed Forces

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what support the Government will be providing to the Invictus Games for wounded servicemen.

Andrew Murrison: The Combined Services Adaptive Sport Association (CSASA) is working with Help for Heroes and the single Services (through the Defence Recovery Capability) to identify, train and select the British armed forces team. The team will likely comprise some 100 Serving and veteran wounded, injured and sick personnel. For the serving wounded, injured and sick personnel, their involvement will form part of their individual recovery plans and will exploit the value of adaptive sport in their recovery.
	The games are being run by a Community Interest Company set up jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry, chaired by Sir Keith Mills. The Chief of Defence Personnel is a Director.
	In addition, the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has seconded two representatives from the Ministry of Defence to the Community Interest Company's executive team. They will support the detailed planning and ensure we have early sight of any appropriate requests for support.
	As announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), on 6 March 2014, the Government will provide £1 million from the LIBOR Fund to support the Games' delivery.

Armed Forces: Qualifications

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress his Department has made on translating and accrediting skills, experience and qualifications gained in the armed forces to the civilian world.

Andrew Murrison: The core of the Defence accreditation offer is delivered through armed forces apprenticeships. Defence is the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK, with approximately 10,000 new starts every year across a range of industrial sectors. This approach means that young people joining the armed forces have the opportunity to gain valuable, industry recognised qualifications and skills, which they apply on operations and continue to develop throughout their careers. At the launch of the recent Veteran's Transition Review, Lord Ashcroft stated that,
	‘…the armed forces are perhaps the biggest and best training and apprenticeship scheme we have, and a remarkable engine of social mobility.’
	Defence is currently engaged in the ‘Apprenticeship Trailblazer’ initiatives being conducted as part of the ongoing Apprenticeship Reform programme to ensure our training standards and requirements remain aligned with industry. We work closely with a range of bodies including the Department for Business Innovation and Skills; the Department for Education; the Skills Funding Agency, the National Apprenticeship Service; Sector Skills Councils and Awarding Organisations, to ensure we continue to develop accreditation opportunities. Beyond apprenticeships, the most recent enhancements include the Army's new suite of Level 1 to Level 3 courses which cover the period from trainee to senior soldier. These courses accredit, within the National Qualifications Framework, the development of the fundamental values, standards and work-based skills that are acquired between the start of initial training and the period of eligibility for a soldier's first promotion.
	Training is an integral part of our broader efforts to help service personnel make the transition into civilian life. In addition to the annual Standard Learning Credit financial assistance scheme, service leavers may qualify for a Resettlement Training Costs grant and a Government-sponsored Enhanced Learning Credit scheme, to help towards the cost of further training to help them make a successful transition to civilian life.
	The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) provides a resettlement programme including up to 35-days retraining time and access to a wide range of accredited vocational training courses and workshops. The CTP service, including resettlement support, is available for up to two years after individuals have left the armed forces.

Immunity From Prosecution

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department is aware of any undertakings of (a) amnesty, (b) immunity and (c) implied immunity from prosecution given to any (i) former or serving members of the security forces, (ii) person who has acted as an agent of the security forces or Government intelligence services and (iii) member of a paramilitary organisation.

Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence is not aware of any such undertakings.

Military Aid: Floods

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what operational contingency plans he has made for future armed forces capability requirements in the event of further severe flooding in the UK.

Mark Francois: The personnel allocated to assist with flooding were selected in such a way that their participation in Operation Pitchpole will have no direct impact on military units’ preparedness for future operations. This includes contingency operations, should civil authority assistance be requested in the event of future flooding or other effects from severe weather.
	The forces which remain committed to Op Pitchpole include an enhanced network of liaison officers working with local authorities, to ensure a rapid response in the event that flooding recurs.

Military Decorations: World War II

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Sir John Holmes review into the award of the Bomber Command pin for aircrew who flew on bomber aircraft will be complete.

Andrew Murrison: As part of his independent medal review, Sir John Holmes recommended that the aircrews of Bomber Command should be awarded a clasp similar to that established for the Fighter Command aircrew who were awarded a Battle of Britain clasp. Additionally, Sir John Holmes is now considering whether the clasp should be extended to aircrew that flew on bomber aircraft from European airbases. The review is being led by the Cabinet Office, but we understand that no specific end date has been set.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the government of Myanmar about the Fortify Rights report, Policies of Persecution and discrimination and violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Hugo Swire: I have not had any discussions specifically about the Fortify Rights report with the Government of Burma (Burma’ remains the designation officially used by Her Majesty's Government). I did however raise our concerns about the situation in Rakhine State both in a public speech and with senior Ministers during my visit to Burma in January.
	We have long shared many of the concerns that Fortify Rights raise in their recent report on the plight of the Rohingya, not least the restrictions on their basic human rights. We are currently implementing many of the recommendations that the report makes to the international community. We will continue to press the Burmese Government to find a long term solution to bring peace and reconciliation to the communities in Rakhine State.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to prevent rape being used as an instrument of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

David Lidington: The Government recognises the urgent need to address rape and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We work closely with the DRC Government and authorities to support the implementation of their national strategy as part of our Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. We welcome President Kabila's recent announcement that he will appoint a special representative on sexual violence and child recruitment, and hope this leads to the Government taking clear action to stop sexual violence.
	During his visit to eastern DRC in March 2013, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), announced over £1 million in funding to a range of organisations tackling rape and sexual violence. This includes over £200,000 for Physicians for Human Rights to support their work-strengthening the capacity of local health, legal and law enforcement professionals to investigate crimes of sexual violence and over £800,000 to better document acts of sexual violence and provide much needed assistance and support to the survivors. We have also supported capacity building efforts in the military justice system by funding an expert who helped investigate the alleged mass rape in Minova by the Congolese army in November 2012. Last month the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds), visited the HEAL Africa hospital in Goma to launch 'Silent No More' which will train local faith leaders to support efforts to tackle sexual violence and promote gender equality.
	In June, the Foreign Secretary and the Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees will co-host a global summit—End Sexual Violence in Conflict: London 2014. This summit—the largest ever staged on this issue—will bring together governments, legal experts, militaries, police forces, international organisations and civil society representatives from around the world. All countries present will be asked to make practical commitments to ending the use of rape as a weapon on war. I hope the DRC Government will reaffirm its determination to tackle this issue and prioritise its national action plan to focus on the most important areas for progress over the coming years.

Egypt

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Egyptian government about trafficking of East African refugees in the Sinai Peninsula; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: We have raised our concerns about the treatment of migrants, including refugees in the Sinai, with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also been in contact with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo, which deals with asylum seekers in Egypt, a task delegated to them by the Egyptian Government.
	In July 2013, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), met with the Eritrean Foreign Minister, and in January this year, FCO officials, along with officials from the National Crime Agency and West Yorkshire police, held discussions about the growing problem of human trafficking in East Africa.

Egypt

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has received on any inquiry into the death of Sky News cameraman Mick Deane in Cairo on 14 August 2013.

Hugh Robertson: The Egyptian authorities have informed us that they are still investigating Mr Deane's tragic death and will update our embassy in Cairo when they conclude their findings. We will continue to press for their investigation to be completed as quickly as possible—calling for it to be robust, independent and impartial. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised this with his Egyptian counterpart last year and I have also done so with the Assistant Minister for Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December. We continue to work closely with Sky News and remain ready to meet with Mr Deane's family at any time.

Egypt

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the position of Christians in Egypt.

Hugh Robertson: We are concerned about the scale of attacks against Christians in Egypt over the past year; at least 40 churches were burnt down in 2013. In September, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made a statement condemning the violence against Christian churches. The new constitution, adopted in January 2014, contains improved provision for the protection of religious freedom.
	I met Bishop Yulios and other senior Coptic Bishops when visiting Cairo in December 2013, who were supportive of the new constitution and its safeguards for religious minorities. We continue to raise the importance of respect for religious beliefs and the protection of religious minorities, with the Egyptian authorities.

Eritrea

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received on UN Security Council Resolution 2023 on Eritrea and the diaspora tax.

David Lidington: The UK supports United Nations Security Resolution (UNSCR) 2023, which condemned Eritrea's use of the diaspora tax to destabilize the Horn of Africa region or violate relevant resolutions and called on Eritrea to cease using illicit means to collect the tax.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has received letters from the diaspora, interested members of the public and MPs about the tax. On 8 November 2013, officials from the FCO, the National Crime Agency and West Yorkshire police met members of the Eritrean diaspora. Those present were urged to report any use of coercion or other illicit means to collect the tax to the police. We will continue to engage with the diaspora on this issue.

Iran

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many executions there were in Iran of (a) adults and (b) minors in 2013. [R]

Hugh Robertson: Obtaining accurate figures on executions in Iran is difficult. There were credible reports of at least 400 executions in Iran in 2013, but this figure is likely to be conservative and the true figure may be far higher. This represents the highest rate of executions per capita in the world. Details of individual executions are limited. However, reports suggest that two minors were sentenced to death in 2013.

Iraq: Iran

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on the applications for re-admission of residents of Camp Ashraf submitted by the UN High Commission for Refugees.

Hugh Robertson: The readmission of former residents of Camp Ashraf to the UK is a decision for the Secretary of State for the Home Department and their applications have not been discussed at ministerial level.

Libya

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent reports he has received on the level of societal cohesion in Libya; what assessment he has made of the likelihood of a constructive outcome from the work of the Constitutional Committee in Libya; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with his Libyan counterpart on the constitutional situation in Libya and the stability of that country;
	(3)  what his policy is on the re-adoption by Libya of the constitution of 1951;
	(4)  what assessment he has made on the level of support in Libya for the constitution of 1951; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of success of the implementation of other constitutional options aside from the re-adoption of the constitution of 1951;
	(5)  if he will take steps to encourage Libya to re-adopt the constitution of 1951 as a prelude to stability in that country;
	(6)  what support his Department is providing the Constitutional Committee of Libya; and whether such support incorporates work towards encouraging the re-adoption of the constitution of 1951;
	(7)  if he will hold discussions with his counterparts in (a) the US, (b) the EU and (c) other North African countries on steps to take to encourage stability in Libya and to establish a common position on the adoption by Libya of the constitution of 1951.

Hugh Robertson: On 6 March, I attended the Rome Ministerial meeting on Libya where the international community, including the US, EU and regional partners, reaffirmed support for the Libyan democratic transition, which includes agreeing a new constitution. It is for Libyans to decide on the constitutional arrangements that apply in Libya. The British Government does not take a view on any one particular model, although we believe firmly in the principle of a democratic constitution as an important way to ensure all Libyans are able to play an active role in deciding the future of their country.
	The British Government, with international partners, is supporting the constitutional drafting process, in particular the work of the constitution-drafting committee (Committee of Sixty), to ensure the democratic transition protects the rights of all Libyans. We welcome the elections for this committee that took place on 20 February as a positive step forwards, although we are concerned that 13 of the seats remain unfilled and some groups are not represented. We hope that the final outcome of the process is representative of all Libyans. We provided funding, through the UN and an international organisation with expertise on elections, to help organise the elections. In addition, we have provided advocacy support to women, through international non-governmental organisations. We will be funding technical assistance to support the on-going constitution-drafting process.
	We receive regular reports from the British embassy on the state of affairs in Libya, including on the level of societal cohesion. After four decades of misrule, Libya faces significant challenges, including national reconciliation. The international community, through the work of the UN, is supporting efforts aimed at facilitating a National Dialogue to address these issues. Other organisations, including the National Democratic Institute and the University of Benghazi have also conducted polling which may be of relevance.

Nigeria

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Nigerian counterpart on the recent spate of attacks in that country by Boko Haram.

David Lidington: The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds), met the President of Nigeria in Abuja on 27 February 2014. They discussed the security situation in the north east of Nigeria and the recent series of horrific attacks on civilians there. My hon. Friend also reaffirmed our commitment to assist Nigeria in its fight against terrorism, while stressing the importance of Nigerian forces respecting human rights during their operations.

North Korea

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received regarding the treatment of prisoners in North Korean concentration camps.

Hugo Swire: On 23 January I met the All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, along with fellow parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations, to discuss UK policy towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and to explore how we could use the Commission of Inquiry report to maintain pressure on the DPRK to address its human rights record. The issue of concentration camps was raised at this meeting. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and I also receive regular letters from parliamentary colleagues and members of the public on this topic. Together we will keep the All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea and interested Members of Parliament updated on this issue.

Syria

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to encourage Syrian opposition groups to work together.

Hugh Robertson: We recognise the National Coalition as the sole, legitimate representatives of the Syrian people. The National Coalition champions the aspirations of the Syrian people for a free, stable, democratic and united Syria. Since its formation, we have provided the National Coalition with practical and political support designed to help it become ever more credible and inclusive. We encourage other opposition groups and activists to work with and through the National Coalition to help realise its vision for Syria, including through the Geneva II process. A negotiated political transition in Syria is the only sustainable way to end the conflict, alleviate the humanitarian suffering and protect UK national security by addressing the threat posed by terrorists.

Syria

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Syrian counterpart on the protection of the Christian minority in Syria.

Hugh Robertson: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has had no contact with his Syrian counterpart since the. Syrian embassy in London and the British embassy in Damascus closed in 2012. In that period officials have had only very limited contact with the Assad regime, all of which has been related to consular cases involving British Nationals. We continue to actively engage through other states, including Russia, as well as the UN in order to try to influence regime behaviour.
	We are deeply concerned about the situation of Christians in Syria. President Assad's actions include a deliberate attempt to stir up sectarian tensions in his effort to hold on to power. As part of this he is cooperating with terrorist groups so extreme and out of control that even Al Qaeda have disowned them. The longer the Assad regime remains in power, the more vulnerable Christians, and all of Syria's minority communities, will become.
	The opposition National Coalition, who we recognise as the only legitimate representatives of the Syrian people, have committed to protecting the rights and interests of all of Syria's communities. These commitments have been acknowledged by the UN Commission of Inquiry's report of 5 March, which recognised that the Supreme Military Council, the armed wing of the National Coalition, supports a democratic and pluralist state. We have provided more than £20 million worth of support to the National Coalition and other elements of the moderate opposition to help them protect the Syrian people both from the tyranny of the Assad regime and the threat posed by extremist groups. Ultimately the position of Syrian Christians can only be truly secured by finding a solution to the crisis through a political transition.

Syria

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his Statement on Syria of 13 January 2014, Official Report, column 584, to which groups the £200,000 provided to enable Syrian women's groups to take part in the Geneva II conference has been allocated; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such on the contribution of such groups in the Geneva II talks.

Hugh Robertson: We are providing £200,000 to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), an international non-governmental organisation. British support is strengthening the capacity of Syrian civil society groups to engage in discussions on political transition, including the Geneva II talks. During the opening rounds of the Geneva II conference, a delegation of Syrian women met the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), as well as Joint Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and the Syrian Opposition to discuss how Syrian women could support peace negotiations. We will continue to call for the active and meaningful participation of Syrian women throughout the transition process, as an essential part of achieving an inclusive, sustainable political settlement that represents the needs and wishes of all Syrian people.

Uganda

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the treatment of Ugandan human rights defenders and LGBT activists since the recent signing of the anti-homosexuality bill.

David Lidington: Officials in our embassy in Kampala continue to meet regularly with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists in Uganda. Since the signing of the Anti-Homosexual Bill, LGBT activists in Uganda have reported an increase in persecution against individuals who are believed to be LGBT. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made clear in his statement of 24 February that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill would increase persecution and discrimination of Ugandans. We urge the Government of Uganda to protect all its citizens without discrimination on any grounds and to investigate any such attacks fully.

Uganda

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to impose (a) travel bans and (b) other targeted sanctions against Ministers in the Ugandan Government responsible for serious rights abuses or involved in the implementation of the new anti-homosexuality law in that country.

David Lidington: We have no plans to impose travel bans or other targeted sanctions against promoters of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. We do not believe that it would be in the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender minorities in Uganda or those working to defend their rights.

Ukraine

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of harassment of journalists in the Crimea.

David Lidington: The situation in Crimea is of serious concern to the UK and the wider international community. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic visited Ukraine last week and warned that the current situation has led to a media freedom crisis. She reported seeing cases of intimidation, beatings and media censorship. The most serious problem was journalists' safety. In addition, the signals of Ukrainian television stations had been cut in Crimea, including the signal of the independent Chernomorskaya TV.
	The UK believes freedom of expression and the media are essential qualities for any functioning democracy. The media has a vital role in providing reliable and accurate information to allow people to discuss and debate issues freely and make informed decisions. We along with the international community will continue to monitor the situation very closely in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Car Boot Sales

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to ensure that car boot sales are properly regulated and do not contribute to traffic congestion in the surrounding area;
	(2)  if he will bring forward legislative proposals to remove permitted development rights for car boot sales.

Nicholas Boles: My Department has no plans to legislate to impose new controls on car boot sales. They are a legitimate activity by tens of thousands of people every weekend across the country to buy and sell unwanted household goods; they provide income for households and encourage the environmentally sustainable re-use of goods that might otherwise be thrown away.
	Notwithstanding, if there are localised problems from a particular activity, a council does have powers to issue an Article 4 direction which can remove national permitted development rights. This is a targeted solution that prevents enveloping a whole sector in unnecessary red tape.

Green Belt

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many planning applications for development in the green belt have been referred to the National Planning Casework Unit since it was established;
	(2)  how many planning applications for development on the green belt he has called in since the establishment of the National Planning Casework Unit.

Nicholas Boles: Since the Department's National Planning Casework Unit was formed in March 2011, local authorities have referred 419 such planning applications; 10 applications were 'called in'. To place this in context, in 2009-10, there were 335 comparative referrals, of which one was 'called in'.
	'Call-in' powers are used very selectively and rarely; for example, a total of just 10 applications (across all types of application) were called-in across England in 2012-13 according to Planning Inspectorate statistics. This low number stems from the fact that they involve Ministers taking the original planning decision away from the local authority and determining it centrally. 'Call ins' are commonly confused with the separate (and slightly more numerous) occasion of planning 'recovery'—where a Minister decides on a planning appeal in place of a decision by the Planning Inspectorate.
	Such planning applications may have been inappropriate and subsequently refused by the local authority. Equally, the planning application may have involved the regeneration of brownfield land within broader green belt boundaries.
	I would also refer the hon. Member to my answer of 23 January 2014, Official Report, columns 289-92W, which notes that residential green belt development is at its lowest since modern figures began in 1989, and which outlines how this Government has safeguarded and increased national green belt protection.

Green Belt

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many called in planning applications for development on the green belt he has refused since the establishment of the National Planning Casework Unit.

Nicholas Boles: Of the 10 ‘called-in’ planning applications since the National Planning Casework Unit was established in 2011, seven are currently under consideration, one was subsequently withdrawn, and two were approved.
	The detailed reasoning for the approvals were outlined in the two decision letters, but it may assist the hon. Member to note that one case was for development on an existing industrial estate next door to a quarry, landfill site and sewage works; the second case was a broad location that the local council had already identified for development in its core strategy.

Green Belt

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of sites on the green belt in England which have been previously developed.

Nicholas Boles: Information on the proportion of sites in the green belt which have been previously developed is not centrally available.

Internet

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what services his Department provides that are (a) available online only and (b) planned to move to online only.

Brandon Lewis: The Department provides the following services online—planning applications (via the Planning Portal), planning appeals and national infrastructure planning applications (both via the Planning Inspectorate). We encourage the use of these online services but we also offer people the choice of completing such applications offline and have no plans to end this arrangement.

Local Government Finance: Bolton

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the total net change in central government funding to Bolton Council between 1997 and 2012 was;
	(2)  how much general revenue funding was allocated to Bolton Council in each year between 1997 and 2012 in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Brandon Lewis: The following table shows the cash funding that Bolton council received from central Government in each year from 1997-98 to 2012-13.
	
		
			 Financial year Funding (£) 
			 1997-98 172,304,000 
			 1998-99 184,160,000 
			 1999-2000 197,306,000 
			 2000-01 213,881,000 
			 2001-02 233,660,000 
			 2002-03 248,032,000 
			 2003-04 281,688,000 
			 2004-05 300,383,000 
			 2005-06 305,054,000 
			 2006-07 318,743,000 
			 2007-08 335,887,000 
			 2008-09 372,227,000 
			 2009-10 374,080,000 
			 2010-11 381,813,000 
			 2011-12 374,242,000 
			 2012-13 359,904,000 
			 Note: The figures include income from ‘specific grants inside aggregate external finance’, ‘area based grant’, ‘local services support grant’, ‘revenue support grant’ and ‘redistributed non-domestic rates’. Rounded to nearest £000. 
		
	
	The hon. Member is able to undertake his own analysis of this data. Inflation indices are available on the Office for National Statistics website. I would simply note that this is a similar level of central funding to that found in the last decade and that this illustrates how the reductions in central funding are frequently exaggerated.
	Of course, every bit of the public sector needs to do its bit to tackle the deficit left by the last Administration, including local government which accounts for a quarter of all public spending. There is immense scope for sensible savings by cutting waste and inefficiency, as outlined in my Department's best practice guide, ‘50 ways to save’.
	Our broader local government finance reforms—from the New Homes Bonus, the localisation of council tax benefit to the local retention of business rates—also place councils in the driving seat and make them less dependent on Government hand-outs; the system now rewards councils for supporting enterprise, getting people back into work and backing local high streets and local firms.

Local Government: Public Appointments

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will make it his policy to allow elected council leaders to take over the role and responsibilities of council chief executives.

Brandon Lewis: We are open to representations on this issue.

Local Government: Trade Unions

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent guidance he has issued to local authorities on their funding of trades union posts and facilities; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: At a time when all local authorities need to make sensible savings to protect front line services, councils should review the merits of using publicly funded full-time union officials.
	In March 2013, we issued advice to councils1 on how they could follow the example set by my Department by ensuring that no employees spend all their working hours on trade union duties and by restricting the amount of facility time offered to private sector levels. We also intend to ensure that local spending on trade unions is open and transparent by requiring councils to publish on-line details of the amounts spent on providing support and facilities to trade union representatives in their workforces.
	1 Available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/136079/Taxpayer_funding_of_Trade_Unions_-_Sensible_Savings.pdf

Planning Permission

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the average cost to a local authority of making an Article 4 direction.

Nicholas Boles: This information is not centrally held.
	The main administrative cost will be undertaking a local consultation, which does not need to be particularly expensive given councils consult all the time on local issues, and bringing together the evidence in support of the direction which should already be held by the council.

Property Development: Floods

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many refusals of planning permission involving flood risk were appealed to the Planning Inspectorate in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and how many of these were (i) dismissed, (ii) allowed with conditions to fully implement the advice of the Environment Agency, (iii) allowed with conditions to partially implement the advice of the Environment Agency and (iv) allowed against the advice of the Environment Agency.

Nicholas Boles: This information is not centrally held in the form requested.

Social Rented Housing: Housing Benefit

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people subject to the under-occupancy penalty were evicted in each local authority in the North East in the last 12 months.

Kris Hopkins: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 6 March 2014, Official Report, columns 897-98W.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Agriculture: Technology

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the UK agricultural technologies strategy; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: My noble Friend, Lord de Mauley, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Natural Environment and Science and I co-chair the Agri-Tech Leadership Council, which last met in January 2014. Under this arrangement, our two Departments work closely on the implementation of the UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies.

Animal Experiments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department has provided to (a) research councils funding animal research and (b) development of non-animal experimentation methods in each of the last five years.

David Willetts: The information is as follows:
	(a) The research councils provide funding for programmes and projects to address specific scientific questions. Some aspects of this work may require the use of animals in research but animals are only used where there is no practicable alternative. It is not currently possible to provide information on the proportion of project spend relating to animal use. However, the following table provides a breakdown of research council spend on projects which include an element of animal use.
	
		
			 Research council expenditure on projects which include an element of animal use 
			 £ 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 MRC1 n/a 240,095,000 232,529,000 228,316,000 239,679,000 
			 BBSRC2 51,833,000 54,557,000 50,059,000 48,322,000 48,863,000 
			 EPSRC1 3,000,000 8,320,000 8,500,000 8,600,000 8,900,000 
			 NERC3 n/a n/a n/a 1,700,000 2,600,000 
			       
			 Total — — — 286,938,000 300,042,000 
			 n/a = Not available. 1 The MRC and EPSRC values are given as the total spend on research projects involving the use of animals. MRC data includes grants, fellowships, unit/institute research programmes, and, partnerships and contributions where the use of animals has been identified. EPSRC data includes grants where the use of animals has been identified. It is not currently possible to provide information on the proportion of project spend relating to animals however EPSRC are currently exploring more effective ways of capturing and reviewing information on animal research. 2 This information is not available for BBSRC Strategic Institute funding and thus these figures do not comprise all of BBSRC-funded animal research. 3 Accurate data from NERC on the use of animal species in research is only readily available from 2011. Over the past three years this has been relatively constant at five to six awards involving animals per year, and represents a commitment of £6.8 million—approximately <0.7% of NERC's budget. 
		
	
	(b) The following table outlines funding provided by the Department for research programmes relating to the 3Rs (the replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research). This includes funding provided for the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) established by the Government in May 2004 to advance and promote the 3Rs in research and testing that uses animals. The NC3Rs primarily receives Government funding through BIS via the MRC and BBSRC. Note that in this table it has not been possible to separate the figures for non-animal experimentation.
	
		
			 BIS funding of the 3Rs (replacement, refinement and reduction) of animals in research including funding for NC3Rs 
			 £ 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Research councils      
			 BBSRC 3,873,000 3,704,000 3,089,000 2,179,000 1,211,000 
			 MRC n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 EPSRC n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			       
			 Technology Strategy Board 0 547,975 459,078 638,454 358,430 
			 NC3Rs 3,468,000 4,268,000 5,068,000 5,215,000 7,160,955 
		
	
	The MRC and EPSRC also support research projects which contribute to the development of new knowledge and new methods that help replace or refine animal use. However these projects are not identifiable.
	In addition, the Technology Strategy Board, NC3Rs, BBSRC, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) launched a competition on 3 February 2014 for feasibility studies which will advance the development of non-animal technologies. These technologies could revolutionise the way in which new drugs and chemicals are assured for effectiveness and safety. The funding, £4 million in total (£1.5 million from Technology Strategy Board), will allow companies to collaborate with each other and with researchers to explore better ways of predicting the effects of new drugs and chemicals on humans, animals and the environment. We expect successful projects from this competition to begin in October 2014.

Debts

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of debt relief orders filed in 2011-12 failed due to an increase in the debtor's income invalidating the procedure.

Jennifer Willott: A total of 32 debt relief orders were revoked due to the debtor's income increasing and breaching the £50 disposable income parameter in 2011-2012. This represents 10.66% of all revocations and 0.11% of the total debt relief orders approved in 2011-12.

Debts

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average total debt was of individuals who filed for (a) a debt relief order, (b) bankruptcy and (c) an individual voluntary arrangement in 2012-13.

Jennifer Willott: For 2012-13 the information available for the total average debt for individuals who filed for insolvency is as follows:
	(a) Average total debt in debt relief orders stood at £8,310.11;
	(b) Average total debt (secured and unsecured) in debtor petition bankruptcies stood at £83,26275;
	(c) Individual voluntary arrangements—information regarding the average total debt within individual voluntary arrangements is not held by the Insolvency Service.

Debts

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many individual voluntary arrangements failed because an increase in the debtor's income invalidated the procedure in each year for which data is available.

Jennifer Willott: Insolvency practitioners, who supervise individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), are required to notify the Insolvency Service when an IVA terminates, but are not required to provide information on the cause of termination. The Insolvency Service does not, therefore, hold any information on this.
	Official statistics presenting completions and terminations of IVAs were published by the Insolvency Service on 11 December 2013 here:
	http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/IVAs/ivas.htm
	The statistics show the status (completed, terminated, ongoing), as at September 2013, for IVAs registered each year from 1990 to 2012.

Exports

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the international ranking of the UK in terms of the total value of exports was in each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon: The international ranking of the UK in terms of the value of exports of goods and services in the last five years is shown in the following table. The figures are sourced from UNCTAD:
	http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?Reportld=25116
	
		
			 Global ranking of exporting countries, 2008-12 
			 Rank 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 
			 1 China US US US US 
			 2 US China China Germany Germany 
			 3 Germany Germany Germany China China 
			 4 Japan Japan Japan France Japan 
			 5 France France France Japan France 
			 6 UK UK UK UK UK 
			 7 Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands Italy 
			 8 South Korea South Korea South Korea Italy Netherlands 
			 9 Italy Italy Italy South Korea Canada 
			 10 Russia Russia Singapore Canada South Korea 
			 Source: UNCTAD.

Insolvency

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints about insolvency practitioners were received in each year from 2010 to 2014; what issue gave rise to the most such complaints in each such year; and (a) how many and (b) what proportion of such complaints related to fees.

Jennifer Willott: The information is as follows:
	In 2013 there were 748 complaints about insolvency practitioners received by the Insolvency Service of which 13 or 2% of the total related to fees;
	In 2012 there were 578 complaints of which 38 or 7% of the total related to fees;
	In 2011 there were 517 complaints of which 25 or 5% of the total related to fees; and
	In 2010 there were 532 complaints of which 38 or 7% of the total related to fees.
	Two independent reports have recently identified issues with over-charging by insolvency practitioners. The complaints system is not currently able to deal fully with complaints about the quantum of fees and the figures above should be taken in that context.
	In the years 2011-13, the issue giving rise to the most complaints was a breach of ethical guidance. In 2010 the issue giving rise to the most complaints was a communication breakdown and/or failure between the complainant and the insolvency practitioner.
	In 2013 an in depth review was undertaken in relation to fees by Professor Kempson which received detailed evidence on fees from a range of parties.

Insolvency Service

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints about the Insolvency Service were received in each year from 2010 to 2014.

Jennifer Willott: The Insolvency Service received the following number of complaints since 2010:
	
		
			  Complaints received 
			 2009-10 224 
			 2010-11 269 
			 2011-12 330 
			 2012-13 283 
			 2013-14 (to end February 2014) 251

Public Sector: Food

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department provides funding to strengthen supply chains in the UK so that British producers and farmers can sell more of their food to public sector institutions.

Michael Fallon: BIS has two broad objectives with respect to supply chains. First we are working with industry to map current supplier capabilities and quantify the opportunity to source more UK content. Where this mapping finds gaps in supply chain capabilities, sectors will encourage domestic suppliers to expand to fill them.
	Second, we are working to strengthen existing supply chains by encouraging primes to adopt a collaborative and long-term approach to their suppliers.
	The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) underpins these policy objectives, through funding for capital investment, skills and innovation. The Manufacturing Advisory Service works alongside with dedicated funding for supply chains.
	This funding to strengthen supply chains is therefore available to farmers and food producers to sell more products to all sectors.

Regional Growth Fund

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications have been received for Regional Growth Fund funding from businesses operating within the tourism industry in (a) Cornwall and (b) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Michael Fallon: The total number of tourism related applications made to the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) in each of the five rounds was as follows: 34 in Round 1; 27 in Round 2; 10 in Round 3; 12 in Round 4; and 9 in Round 5. One of the Round 4 applications (received in was from Cornwall).
	The RGF is targeted at projects and programmes which support new additional sustainable jobs. The Independent Advisory Panel, which advises Ministers on which bids most effectively support RGF objectives, have not recommended bids where there is a risk that RGF support could lead to a relocation of existing jobs rather than new additional job creation. This is likely to have influenced the number of tourism related bids submitted in later rounds.

Regional Growth Fund: Cornwall

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many Regional Growth Fund grants have been awarded to applicants based in (a) St Austell and Newquay constituency and (b) Cornwall in the latest period for which figures are available.

Michael Fallon: Three Regional Growth Fund awards totalling £19.5 million have been made to applicants based in Cornwall from the first four bidding rounds. One of the awards is to a LEP programme to which companies located St Austell and Newquay can apply to for funding. No awards have been made directly to applicants in the St Austell and Newquay constituency.

Science

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what programmes he has for public engagement with science; what the cost of those programmes is; what evaluation he has made of their effectiveness; and if he will publish the results of that evaluation.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) allocates £13 million annually to drive public engagement with science and increase scientific literacy. This funds programmes including Sciencewise, which is the UK's national centre for public dialogue on science, National Science and Engineering Week, the British Science Festival and the National Science and Engineering Competition whose finals take place at this week's national Big Bang Fair. Evaluations of these individual programmes are published on relevant organisations' websites.
	BIS also funds STEMNET which provides a network of over 27,000 STEM ambassadors, volunteer scientists and engineers who inspire schoolchildren and help bring career opportunities to life. We evaluate all our programmes individually and measure the collective impact of our policies and complementary activity provided by others every three years with the Public Attitudes to Science survey. Previous surveys are available on BIS' website and the 2014 edition will be published and uploaded on 14 March.

JUSTICE

Commercial Court

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was received in fees by the public purse through cases held in the Commercial Court in 2013 or most recent full year for which figures can be provided.

Shailesh Vara: The Commercial Court operates as part of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court. HMCTS records fee income for the Commercial Court together with that of the Admiralty Court. We therefore cannot separately identify the fee income for the Commercial Court.
	However, we can confirm the amount received in fees by the public purse through cases held in the Admiralty and Commercial Court combined in the financial year 2012-13, the most recent year for which figures can be provided, was £2.3 million.

Domestic Violence

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the purpose is of his Department's new Building Better Relationships Programme; how that purpose differs from the purpose of the (a) Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme and (b) Community Domestic Violence Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The Integrated Domestic Abuse programme ultimately aims to eliminate offenders’ abusive behaviour towards their partners and children.
	The Community Domestic Violence programme aims to ensure the safety of women and children who are victims of offenders placed on the programme.
	The Building Better Relationships programme aims to reduce reoffending and promote the safety of current and future partners and children and to work collaboratively with other agencies to manage risk.
	The rationale for the development of this programme is to refresh and update the treatment interventions for intimate partner violent males delivered across NOMS in line with current theory and research on intimate partner aggression and abuse, motivational theory and therapeutic engagement. As well as bringing materials up to date the new programme aims to reduce the high attrition figures experienced within treatment interventions for domestically violent men.

Employment Tribunals Service

Gordon Birtwistle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what average award is made to an employee through the tribunal process for unpaid wages.

Shailesh Vara: Data on the number of monetary awards made in relation to complaints about unpaid wages, or the level of those awards, are not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. While some data on monetary awards made by employment tribunals are collated centrally, that data only relates to claims for unfair dismissal and certain types of discrimination. That data is published annually and available on the Ministry of Justice website.

Non-molestation Orders

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 248W, on non-molestation orders: West Sussex, how many non-molestation orders were issued by courts in England in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

Simon Hughes: Table 1, as follows, shows the numbers of non-molestation orders made in England in each quarter between January 2011 and September 2013.
	
		
			 Table 1: Non-molestation orders made in English courts, January 2011 to September 2013 
			  Quarter1 Number of Non-Molestation Orders Made 
			 2011  19,220 
			 2012  19,057 
			 2013 (to 30 September)  16,078 
			    
			 2011 1 4,842 
			  2 4,768 
			  3 5,030 
			  4 4,580 
			    
			 2012 1 4,805 
			  2 4,644 
			  3 4,876 
			  4 4,732 
			    
			 2013 1 4,923 
			  2 5,286 
			  3 5,869 
			 1 Quarter 1 = January to March, Quarter 2 = April to June, Quarter 3 = July to September and Quarter 4 = October to December. Source: HM Courts and Tribunals Service's FamilyMan case management system

Prison Governors

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many previous prisons each prison governor in England and Wales has governed;
	(2)  for how many months each current incumbent governor of prisons in England and Wales has been in post;
	(3)  how many governors there have been in post since May 2010 in each prison in England and Wales.

Jeremy Wright: The number of previous prisons each prison governor in England and Wales has governed, how many months each current incumbent governing governor has been in post and how many governing governors each prison has had in post since May 2010 are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Prison Time in post in months Number of previous prisons governed Number of governing governors since May 2010 
			 Altcourse (Director) 10 6 2 
			 Ashfield (Director) 12 1 2 
			 Aylesbury 47 1 1 
			 Bedford 26 0 3 
			 Belmarsh 70 3 1 
			 Birmingham (Director) 28 2 2 
			 Blantyre House 19 2 2 
			 Brinsford 2 2 3 
			 Bristol 24 2 2 
			 Brixton 38 3 2 
			 Bronzefield (Director) 13 0 2 
			 Buckley Hall 4 0 2 
			 Bullingdon 11 3 2 
			 Bure 39 4 1 
			 Cardiff 5 1 2 
			 Channings Wood 15 1 2 
			 Chelmsford 1— — 1 
			 Coldingley 10 2 2 
			 Cookham Wood 4 0 3 
			 Dartmoor 29 0 3 
			 Deerbolt 25 1 2 
			 Doncaster (Director) 53 1 2 
			 Dovegate (Director) 12 0 3 
			 Downview 4 3 2 
			 Drake Hall 24 0 2 
			 Durham 31 0 1 
			 East Sutton Park 19 2 2 
			 Eastwood Park 23 0 2 
			 Elmley 7 3 3 
			 Erlestoke 68 0 1 
			 Exeter 30 2 2 
			 Featherstone 51 0 1 
			 Feltham 11 1 2 
			 Ford 2 2 1 
			 Forest Bank (Director) 72 0 1 
			 Foston Hall 5 0 4 
			 Frankland 28 3 2 
			 Full Sutton 27 2 2 
			 Garth 12 4 2 
		
	
	
		
			 Gartree 27 1 2 
			 Glen Parva 14 2 2 
			 Grendon and Springhill 26 1 2 
			 Guys Marsh 38 0 2 
			 Hatfield 3 1 3 
			 Haverigg 13 3 3 
			 Hewell 24 1 3 
			 Highdown 13 0 2 
			 Highpoint 7 4 3 
			 Hindley 40 2 2 
			 Hollesley Bay 88 1 1 
			 Holloway 40 2 2 
			 Holme House 25 1 2 
			 Hull 27 1 2 
			 Humber 26 1 1 
			 Huntercombe 43 0 2 
			 Isis 29 0 2 
			 Isle of Wight 13 2 3 
			 Kennet 15 1 2 
			 Kirkham 13 1 2 
			 Kirklevington Grange 25 0 2 
			 Lancaster Farms 12 3 2 
			 Leeds 6 1 2 
			 Leicester 2 2 3 
			 Lewes 8 2 2 
			 Leyhill 11 1 2 
			 Lincoln 17 5 2 
			 Lindholme 7 1 3 
			 Littlehey 28 4 2 
			 Liverpool 47 2 1 
			 Long Lartin 1 4 2 
			 Low Newton 51 1 1 
			 Lowdham Grange (Director) 12 3 2 
			 Maidstone 8 3 3 
			 Manchester 6 2 4 
			 Moorland 7 1 3 
			 Mount, The 16 2 2 
			 New Hall and Askham Grange 24 0 3 
			 North Sea Camp 1 0 2 
			 Northumberland (Director) 36 3 2 
			 Norwich 39 2 2 
			 Nottingham 14 4 3 
			 Oakwood (Director) 11 1 2 
			 Onley 1— — 2 
			 Parc (Director) 93 0 1 
			 Pentonville 5 2 2 
			 Peterborough (Director) 40 4 2 
			 Portland 0 1 3 
			 Prescoed and Usk 1 1 2 
			 Preston 68 1 1 
			 Ranby 4 4 4 
			 Risley 25 0 2 
			 Rochester 26 2 2 
			 Rye Hill (Director) 10 3 4 
			 Send 1— — 3 
			 Stafford 26 1 2 
			 Standford Hill 5 1 3 
			 Stocken 18 4 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Stoke Heath 48 2 1 
			 Styal 24 1 2 
			 Sudbury 24 0 2 
			 Swaleside 7 2 3 
			 Swansea 7 0 2 
			 Swinfen Hall 23 2 3 
			 Thameside (Director) 24 4 1 
			 Thorn Cross 3 0 4 
			 Wakefield 1 3 2 
			 Wandsworth 24 3 2 
			 Warren Hill 37 1 2 
			 Wayland 21 5 3 
			 Wealstun 27 1 2 
			 Werrington 24 0 2 
			 Wetherby 37 1 2 
			 Whatton 60 3 1 
			 Whitemoor 6 3 2 
			 Winchester 7 1 2 
			 Woodhill 5 2 2 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 4 2 2 
			 Wymott 12 3 2 
			 1 Vacant.

Prisons

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how each prison that has gone through his Department's benchmarking process scored against each of the criteria in that process.

Jeremy Wright: Staffing levels are being reviewed prison by prison as part of a ‘benchmarking approach’.
	Benchmarking has been agreed with the unions and the NAO has commented that the wider strategy for the prison estate is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. It delivers efficiencies whilst ensuring that public sector prisons operate safely, decently and securely.
	Benchmarking optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner facing roles. It is not a process which involves scoring.

Probation

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the inherent and post-mitigation risk is to the Transforming Rehabilitation Probation programme of a failure to have in place a robust operational design;
	(2)  what the inherent and post-mitigation risk is to the Transforming Rehabilitation Probation programme if complex human resource issues such as grievances cannot be resolved within the exact timescales;
	(3)  what the inherent and post-mitigation risk is to the Transforming Rehabilitation Probation programme from difficult and protracted union negotiations;
	(4)  what the inherent and post-mitigation risk is to the Transforming Rehabilitation Probation programme if the Payment by Results model does not encourage contract providers to invest in services;
	(5)  what the inherent and post-mitigation risk is to the Transforming Rehabilitation Probation programme from increased costs, lack of funding and pension issues which are unresolved.

Jeremy Wright: We are introducing radical reforms to the way offenders are rehabilitated in order to tackle high reoffending rates that currently see almost half of all prisoners commit further crime within a year of release. The new system has been developed and designed through consultation and engagement. We are taking a phased approach to implementation and have plans in place to roll out further business readiness tests at key stages of implementation so that we can ensure we are managing the transition to the new system in a safe and measured way.
	Trusts have now completed the allocation of staff to their new roles and are on track to have heard all appeals by the end of March. We will trial the new ways of working over two months before we formally complete the transfer to the new governance arrangements on 1 June. We are working closely with Trust senior leaders to prepare for transition to the new structures.
	On 29 January, following intensive negotiations with Probation Trade Unions and employers' representatives, the National Negotiating Committee and the Standing Committee for Chief Officer Grades ratified a National Agreement on Staff Transfer. Staff will transfer to the new probation structures with their existing terms and conditions in place.
	We remain committed to protecting the pensions of existing and former probation staff and as part of the National Agreement, the Ministry of Justice has guaranteed that all staff that transfer on 1 June 2014 to either the NPS or the CRC will remain members of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Pensions of all existing staff will be covered by a Secretary of State Guarantee.
	We are confident that paying providers by their results in reducing reoffending will drive the right behaviours. We are negotiating contracts with providers which will set out minimum standards by which those providers are expected to perform and we will monitor those contracts very closely. Providers will be expected to cost the services in a way which takes into account variations in the cost of provision during the lifetime of the contract. Our proposals are affordable within the context of the MOJ commitment to deliver annual savings of over £2 billion by 2014-15.

Public Defenders

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  when the decision to hire new Public Defender System advocates was made;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the average salary of a Public Defender Service advocate after the current recruitment drive is complete;
	(3)  for how many advocate positions in the Public Defender System his Department plans to recruit;
	(4)  how many applications for each vacancy for the Public Defender System his Department received.

Shailesh Vara: The decision to start the recent round of recruitment for Advocates was made in January 2014.
	Salaries paid are based on an individual's skills and experience, we therefore cannot currently give the estimated figures requested while the recruitment process is still ongoing, as average salaries will be dependent upon the outcome of the recruitment exercise.
	We have recruited and are continuing to recruit for a small number of advocates to join the Public Defender Service. This number will be determined as a result of the recruitment process, and it would be inappropriate to comment further while that process is ongoing.

Reoffenders: Females

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the reoffending rate is for women released from each women's prison in England.

Simon Hughes: The Government is committed to reducing reoffending by men and women. Under our Transforming Rehabilitation reforms those serving custodial sentences of under 12 months will, for the first time in recent decades, be subject to statutory supervision on release and they will be supported through the gate into the community. Proportionally, more women than men are serving short sentences so they will benefit particularly from this element of the reforms.
	The latest proven reoffending rates for women released from a women's prison can be found in tables 1 and 2. These have been taken from the Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin, April 2011 to March 2012. Table 1 provides proven reoffending rates for offenders released from serving a sentence of less than 12 months and table 2 provides proven reoffending rates for offenders released from serving a sentence of 12 months or more.
	A large part of this variability in the tables reflects the small cohort sizes and the mix of offenders who are held in different prisons. For example, a group of prisoners with a high number of previous offences is more likely to reoffend than a group with a low number of previous offences. Therefore, direct comparisons between prisons should not be made using these raw reoffending rates.
	
		
			 Table 1: Proven reoffending of adult female offenders given sentences of less than 12 months in the year ending March 2012, by individual prison, based on first discharge from each prison 
			 Female 
			 Prison Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%)1 Number of offenders in cohort2 
			 Askham Grange 3— 13 
			 Bronzefield 57.5 557 
			 Downview 3— 22 
			 Drake Hall 52.1 73 
			 East Sutton Park 3— 16 
			 Eastwood Park 60.5 440 
			 Foston Hall 63,2 174 
		
	
	
		
			 Holloway 48.5 580 
			 Low Newton 67.5 209 
			 New Hall 61.6 297 
			 Peterborough 58.1 418 
			 Send 3— 5 
			 Styal 54.4 439 
			 1 A large part of the variability in the reoffending rates reflects the mix of offenders who are held in different prisons and, therefore, comparisons between prisons should not be made using the raw reoffending rates provided in the table. 2 A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, .not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders. 3 Proportions and averages based on less than 30 offenders are removed as they make data unreliable for interpretation. Note: Numbers in italics means less than 30 offenders—treat data with caution. Source: Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin, April 2011 to March 2012, Table 22a 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Proven reoffending of adult female offenders given sentences of 12 months or more in the year ending March 2012, by individual prison, based on first discharge from each prison 
			 Female 
			 Prison Proportion of offenders who reoffend (%)1 Number of offenders in cohort2 
			 Askham Grange 10.2 127 
			 Bronzefield 22.7 150 
			 Downview 25.4 130 
			 Drake Hall 17.0 182 
			 East Sutton Park 3.4 89 
			 Eastwood Park 29.4 109 
			 Foston Hall 19.7 71 
			 Holloway 23.3 219 
			 Low Newton 45.4 119 
			 New Hall 25.7 183 
			 Peterborough 27.1 133 
			 Send 14.3 91 
			 Styal 25.9 193 
			 1 A large part of the variability in the reoffending rates reflects the mix of offenders who are held in different prisons and, therefore, comparisons between prisons should not be made using the raw reoffending rates provided in the table. 2 A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders. 3 Proportions and averages based on less than 30 offenders are removed as they make data unreliable for interpretation. Note: Numbers in italics means less than 30 offenders—treat data with caution. Source: Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin, April 2011 to March 2012, Table 22b 
		
	
	A proven further offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year period following release which results in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in that one year period. Following this one year period, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many men have been charged under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, as inserted by section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 since 1 April 2010; how many successful prosecutions resulted; and what penalty was imposed in each case.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is committed to ensuring that the courts have the right powers to tackle sexual exploitation, and continues to keep those powers under review.
	Under section 53A it is an offence to pay for or promise to pay a person to provide sexual services, where that person is subject to exploitative conduct to induce or encourage them to provide those services. The offence carries a maximum penalty of a level 3 (£1,000) fine.
	The number of defendants in England and Wales who were proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty and sentenced at all courts (all of whom are men) from 2010 to 2012 can be viewed in the table.
	The Ministry of Justice does not collect charging data.
	
		
			 Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences relating to paying or promising to pay a person for sexual services, where that person is subject to exploitative conduct to induce or encourage them to provide those services1, England and Wales, 2010 to 20122,3,4 
			 Outcome 2010 2011 2012 
			 Proceeded against 49 17 9 
			 Found guilty 43 12 6 
			     
			 Sentenced 43 12 6 
			 Of which:    
			 Immediate custody — — — 
			 Suspended sentence — — — 
			 Community sentence — — — 
			 Fine 29 8 3 
			 Conditional discharge 12 3 2 
			 Absolute discharge 1 — — 
			 Otherwise dealt with5 1 1 1 
			 '—' = Nil 1 An offence under S53A of the Sexual Offences Act, as inserted by S14 of the Policy and Crime Act 2009, which came into force on 1 April 2010. 2 The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 The number of offenders sentenced can differ from those found guilty as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty in a particular year, and committed for sentence at the Crown Court, may be sentenced in the following year. 5 The category Otherwise Dealt With (ODW) includes: one day in police cells; disqualification order; restraining order; confiscation order; travel restriction order; disqualification from driving; recommendation for deportation; and other miscellaneous disposals. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Standards

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the comparator benchmarking scores used in his Department's benchmarking scheme are; and how those scores are calculated.

Jeremy Wright: Staffing levels are being reviewed prison by prison as part of a ‘benchmarking approach’.
	Benchmarking has been agreed with the unions and the NAO has commented that the wider strategy for the prison estate is the most coherent and comprehensive for many years. It delivers efficiencies whilst ensuring that public sector prisons operate safely, decently and securely.
	Benchmarking optimises the skills of staff by introducing new ways of working and puts all prison officers in prisoner facing roles. It is not a process which involves scoring.

Trade Union Officials

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what facility time was allocated to trades unions in his Department in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14 to date.

Shailesh Vara: The Information for 2012-13 is available at the Gov.uk website at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276890/Facility_Time_Figures_Q1-Q3_2013_Overall.xls
	The data for 2012-13 provided by the link takes into account the new Cabinet Office monitoring requirement which is by headcount; it also includes representatives who undertake Health and Safety and Union Learning roles for which paid facility time is not provided. Therefore the data for 2011-12 and 2012-13 are not comparable.
	The latest data will be published shortly.

Wills

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps the Government is taking to encourage people to make wills.

Simon Hughes: The Government encourages people to make wills by providing a relatively straightforward legal framework that keeps the formalities to a minimum and enables wills to be made quickly and inexpensively. We also provide information to help people considering making a will on Government websites: see, for example:
	www.gov.uk/make-will
	and
	www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/why-make-a-will
	We are considering what further steps we can take to raise awareness of the importance of making a will and to make the process simpler. We will make a statement about this in due course.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum: Uganda

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will update the UK visas and immigration guidance on Ugandan asylum cases to reflect the safety implications for Ugandans of the recent ratification of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in that country.

James Brokenshire: All asylum and human rights claims are considered on their merits in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 refugee convention and the European convention on human rights. Our current guidance for handling Ugandan asylum claims is set out in an Operational Guidance Note (OGN) of December 2013. The OGN already recognises that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons may be at risk of persecution and warrant protection in the UK.
	The Home Office will publish updated guidance on handling Ugandan asylum claims in light of the enactment of Anti-Homosexuality Bill by the end of March.

Daniel Morgan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to announce a new chair of the Daniel Morgan inquiry team.

Damian Green: The Panel continues to carry out its important work and I am planning to appoint a new Chair as soon as possible.

Daniel Morgan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the Daniel Morgan inquiry committee has met in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel has held 10 meetings since its formation.
	The first meeting was held on 17 September.
	The Independent Panel will present its final Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who will make arrangements for its publication to Parliament. The Terms of Reference provide that the Panel will brief members of the family through a final report which is to be made available first to the family and then to the public at large. It is not envisaged that the Panel will make material public until that point.
	The Independent Panel has received around 700 documents from relevant organisations to date. This is a very small proportion of the anticipated number of documents that the Panel will review. The vast bulk of the material will be made available to Panel for review following agreement of protocols with relevant organisations. In the mean time, the relevant organisations have provided schedules of documents.

Drug Seizures: Chelmsford

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what value of illegal drugs was seized by police in Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: The requested information is not centrally collected by the Home Office.

Employment

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of migration on employment of UK nationals.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 10 March 2014
	The Government has recently published two reports on the effects of migration on employment of UK nationals. These are:
	1. ‘Impacts of migration on UK native employment: An analytical review of the evidence’:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287086/ocd09.pdf)
	and
	2. ‘Employment and Occupational skill levels among UK and foreign nationals’:
	ixhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/282503/occ108.pdf

Entry Clearances: Married People

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many spousal visas were granted in 2013.

James Brokenshire: The latest published figure for partner entry clearance visas (including spouses) granted under the family route in 2013 was 24,641. It is not possible to separately identify those granted visas under the old family rules and those granted visas under new family rules implemented on 9 July 2012.
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics including those for entry clearance visas granted under the family route within the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October- December 2013, is available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
	and will be placed in the Library of the House.

Extradition

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times she has intervened in extradition cases since May 2010.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 10 March 2014
	Since May 2010, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has withdrawn the extradition orders in two extradition cases. One case fell to be considered under the Extradition Act 1989, which gave the Secretary of State a wide discretion as to the matters she may consider. The other case fell to be considered under the Extradition Act 2003, under which her decision-making powers are limited to a number of factors. The case in question, however, was decided under the Secretary of State's then residual human rights obligations. The Secretary of State no longer has the power to consider representations on human rights grounds, following the coming into force of the relevant provisions of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

Internet

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what services her Department provides that are (a) available online only and (b) planned to move to online only.

Karen Bradley: The following services are available online only:
	Applications to join the pilot Border Force Registered Traveller Scheme
	Applications for visas from overseas (except from North Korea, Cuba and Zimbabwe)
	Applications to join the DBS Update Service
	There are no current plans to move other Home Office services to online only. The aim of Government is to make services digital by default. However, Government recognises that not everyone who uses these services is online, so digital support will be available to those users that need it.

Members: Correspondence

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department has received correspondence from the hon. Member for Birkenhead on the immigration status of constituent Luiza Czarnecka; and when she expects to reply to such correspondence.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office received correspondence from the right hon. Member dated 14 November 2013. Officials replied to this letter on 27 November requesting further information. Following receipt of this information, officials sent a further reply to the right hon. Member on 17 December 2013.

Police: Essex

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of reductions in funding to local authorities on police forces in (a) Essex and (b) Chelmsford.

Damian Green: Funding for local authorities is a matter for the Communities Secretary. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 puts in place two related, reciprocal duties for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to co-operate with partners.
	PCCs are already working with local leaders to achieve effective outcomes for their areas and we encourage them to continue to do so. In Essex, the police have been working in collaboration with the County Fire and Rescue Service, including property sharing at appropriate locations across Essex, thereby reducing costs.

Police: Floods

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in all cases of recent flooding, where a Gold Command has been established for severe weather events, the police, unless agreed otherwise locally have convened and led the multi-agency response.

Brandon Lewis: I have been asked to reply. 
	Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 statutory guidance “Emergency Preparedness”, police authorities and other responders work together as a local resilience forum to draw up multi-agency plans and incident command and control, protocols, where the Gold commander is identified in advance of need. Police Gold commanders, where identified locally as the lead responder, have led the local multi-agency response for severe weather. I would note that this is a Pitt Review Recommendation which has been implemented.

Police: Gifts and Endowments

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what polices (a) Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and (b) the Independent Police Complaints Commission have adopted on their employees receiving gifts and hospitality from (i) police forces, (ii) police and crime commissioners and (iii) serving police officers.

Damian Green: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) staff are subject to the civil service code which states that civil servants must not accept gifts or hospitality, or receive other benefits from anyone which might reasonably be seen to compromise their personal judgment or integrity. The policy applies to all HMIC staff, whether on a permanent, seconded, fixed term, temporary, contractor or associate basis. All offers of gifts and hospitality, irrespective of whether they are received or not, must be recorded on the gifts and hospitality register held locally within individual business units. HMIC publishes a copy of its gifts and hospitality register every three months.
	All Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) staff must follow the IPCC's code of conduct which includes what they must do in regard to declaring gifts and hospitality. An IPCC employee should not use their official position to receive benefits of any kind from a third party, which might reasonably be seen to compromise their personal judgment and integrity. The Code of Conduct can be found on the IPCC website, which also includes a register of its gifts and hospitality updated every six months.

Stalking

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her future plans are for funding the national stalking hotline.

Norman Baker: The Government ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding from 2010-15 for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services and national helplines. £900,000 of this funding is allocated to providing support to helplines, of which £45,000 is committed until April 2015 to the National Stalking Helpline.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many full-time officials in her Department have responsibility for its role and activities in Afghanistan.

Justine Greening: DFID's London-based Afghanistan team consists of seven full-time staff, as well as a wide range of staff across the Department, including press, policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who work on Afghanistan.
	We do not provide detailed information on staff numbers in Afghanistan for security and operational reasons.

Climate Change

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on the inclusion of a stand-alone climate change goal in a new development framework.

Justine Greening: DFID Ministers are engaged in discussions at the UN and elsewhere about all aspects of the framework that will succeed the millennium development goals.

Israel

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations her Department has made to the Israeli Government about oil production in Gaza.

Alan Duncan: DFID is not aware of any conversations between the Department and the Israeli Government about oil production in Gaza. DFID does, however, work closely with the embassy in Tel Aviv to raise concerns with the Government of Israel about the need to find both an immediate and long-term solution to Gaza's energy crisis. One of the priority issues we and our EU partners raise with Israel is the necessity of co-operation in facilitating the development of the Gaza Marine 1 gas field.

Middle East

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with civil society organisations working in Lebanon and Jordan about the number of child protection cases in the region.

Alan Duncan: DFID humanitarian advisers are in regular contact with UNICEF and international non-governmental organisations working on child protection in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. These organisations share information and co-ordinate activities with a wide range of national and local civil society organisations involved in child protection activities, including monitoring trends and assessing needs. Child protection encompasses all activities aiming to prevent and respond to exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence against children. According to the UN, 2,946 children in Lebanon were referred to child protection services in 2013. In Jordan, 4,670 children at risk were referred in 2013. Reliable data for Syria is not available.

Overseas Aid

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what procedures are in place to ensure foreign aid reaches its target and is not embezzled by corrupt or dictatorial regimes.

Lynne Featherstone: The risk that funds may not be used for their intended purpose is assessed through a range of in-depth evidence-based analyses and reviews including Central Assurance Assessments, Fiduciary Risk Assessments and Due Diligence Assessments. This encompasses a detailed review of the potential recipients, (including all downstream partners), financial management systems, governance structures, policies, procedures, internal systems and fiscal abilities. These reviews are mandatory for all DFID budget support programmes and identify key risks to support programme planning and to inform funding decisions, thereby safeguarding public funds.
	A significant number of DFID staff have been trained in anti-corruption methods and this is then embedded with partner organisations to ensure compliance to DFID's needs. Training is an ongoing process and it is anticipated that all current staff and new entrants will have undertaken a comprehensive programme related to Fraud, Bribery and Corruption within the next 12 months, further ensuring that DFID safeguards UK funds.
	In addition to the assessment of existing processes and procedures and as part of our budget support programme, we make sure that all partners have a credible reform programme in place to improve their financial management systems, accountability for UK funds. Where necessary we provide technical support to assist them in achieving best practice. For each existing programme a continuous monitoring/annual reporting process is engaged along with expert reviews of internal and external audits. Ad hoc site visits and random sampling of accounting procedures and processes are also undertaken reinforcing the zero tolerance approach to fraud, bribery or corruption.

Rwanda

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department have had with representatives of the Rwandan Government since December 2013.

Justine Greening: Minister Simmonds met with the Rwanda Foreign Minister at the African Union summit in January. Since January, DFID Ministers have not had discussions with representatives of the Rwandan Government.

Staff

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many full-time members of staff in her Department have responsibility for conflict states.

Justine Greening: There are 28 full-time staff working in our Fragile States and Conflict Team in the UK, as well as a wide range of staff across the Department, including press, policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who work on conflict states.

Staff

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many full time members of staff in her Department have responsibility for her Department's role in Syria.

Justine Greening: There are 24 full time members of staff in my Department working on the Syria Crisis, which is in addition to the Fragile and Conflict States Team and a wide range of staff across the Department, including press, policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who work on Syria.

Staff

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many full time members of staff in her Department have responsibility for issues related to HIV and AIDS.

Justine Greening: There are 16 full-time members of staff in our AIDS and Reproductive Health Team, as well as a wide range of staff across the Department, including press, policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who work on AIDS and Reproductive Health.

Staff

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many full time members of staff in her Department have responsibility for issues related to workers' rights.

Justine Greening: The issue of workers' rights is handled by DFID's Politics, Society and State team which consists of four full-time members of staff, as well as a wide range of staff across the Department, including press, policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who work on workers' rights.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts: Expenditure

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much support her Department has provided to the (a) video games industry and (b) film industry in each of the last five years.

Edward Vaizey: The Department is providing up to £8 million in match funding in 2013-14 to support skills development in both the video games and film industry. The Department has also supported the film industry through Grant in Aid and National Lottery Funding to the British Film Institute (BFI) in each of the last five years as follows:
	
		
			  Year Total 
			 UKFC 2009-10 65.034 
			 UKFC 2010-11 74.563 
			 BFI 2011-12 69.589 
			 BFI 2012-13 77.914 
			 BFI 2013-14 70.601

Betting Shops

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether any betting shops have been forced to close as a result of local authority action in the last five years.

Helen Grant: Local authorities have the power to impose licence conditions on betting shops to ensure they meet their licence objectives, for example in November 2013 Newham Borough Council imposed a number of conditions on a betting shop which was associated with underage gambling and disorder. The Gambling Commission do not collate figures on the number of licence reviews or closures.

Betting Shops

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what evidence she has considered about the prevalence of betting shops in low income areas; and whether she plans to commission research on this subject.

Helen Grant: The Health Surveys for England and Scotland provide data on gambling participation by region, area deprivation and income. In addition, the Responsible Gambling Trust's research on category B gaming machines will include geographical modelling in order to understand how ‘clustering’ or the locations of LBOs and the populations they serve may influence behaviour.

Football

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her policy is on the reform of football governance.

Helen Grant: The delivery of reform in football governance is a matter for the football authorities. I continue to work closely with them to press for improvements in the sport: they have made welcome progress, and I expect them to maintain this.

Gaming Machines

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Responsible Gambling Trust about its research into B2 gaming machines; and on what grounds she is satisfied that it will be independent.

Helen Grant: As the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities I regular meet with the Responsible Gambling Trust and I am confident that robust mechanisms are in place to ensure the integrity of their research programme. All aspects of the research programme will be rigorously peer reviewed and transparent to the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, the Gambling Commission and Government.

HEALTH

Anaemia

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the effectiveness of the test used to diagnose those with pernicious anaemia; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: A range of guidance on the testing and treatment of pernicious anaemia is available from sources including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Knowledge Summaries. NICE works to ensure its guidance reflects the latest available evidence.
	It is the responsibility of general practitioners, using their clinical judgment and supported by relevant guidance, to arrange the appropriate tests and investigations may lead to an appropriate diagnosis.

Darent Valley Hospital

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) frontline and (b) support staff there were at Darent Valley Hospital in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013.

Daniel Poulter: Information is not available in the format requested. Information at Trust level is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 NHS Hospital and Community Health Services: NHS staff in Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust by main staff group as at 30 September in each specified year 
			 Full-time equivalent 
			  2010 2011 2012 September 2013 
			 All staff 1,879 1,983 2,047 2,212 
			      
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff total1 1,158 1,232 1,273 1,370 
			 Medical and Dental staff 264 248 261 276 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 665 749 763 844 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 228 234 247 250 
			 Qualified ambulance service staff 1 2 2 1 
			      
			 Support to clinical staff total1 502 571 616 670 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 402 447 477 547 
			 Support to scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 89 113 126 124 
			 Support to ambulance staff 11 11 14 - 
			      
			 NHS infrastructure support total 217 181 158 171 
			 Central functions 142 105 98 113 
			 Hotel, property and estates 17 15 3 3 
			 Managers and senior managers 58 60 57 56 
			      
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification 3 0 0 0 
			 1 There is no definition of frontline staff available. Therefore any staff member who is professionally qualified or supports clinical staff are classified as frontline staff as they have some degree of patient contact. NHS infrastructure support staff have no patient contact. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on1 figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Monthly data: As from 21 July 2010 the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record (i.e. it does not include Primary care staff or Bank staff). There are also new methods of presenting-data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the following website at: www.hscic.gov.uk Notes: 1. Darent Valley Hospital is part of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. 2. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 3. As a consequence of TCS (Transforming Community Services) Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust may have absorbed staff and services from local PCT providers. 4. Full time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 5. September 2010-12 figures are from the annual Non-Medical Workforce census. 6. September 2013 figures are from the provisional monthly workforce census. Sources: 1. Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census 2. Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics

Hospitals: Food

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether standardised recipes are used for hospital food in England.

Daniel Poulter: Standardised recipes are available for hospital food in England. The National Dish Selector is a searchable database of recipes that can be searched by both recipe and ingredient. It is designed to be used by catering services as a resource from which to develop local menus. The database was developed by the Department and is available via the Hospital Caterers' Association website at:
	www.hospitalcaterers.org/better-hospital-food/
	Provider organisations are responsible for compiling their own menus and making decisions about the food served to patients and service users. This includes planning and monitoring the nutritional content of menus.

Nurses: South Yorkshire

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) district nurses, (b) health visitors, (c) community psychiatric nurses, (d) community matrons and (e) community learning disabilities nurses were employed by the NHS in each clinical commissioning group area in South Yorkshire in (i) the latest period for which figures are available and (ii) the previous 12 months from that date.

Daniel Poulter: Information is not available in the format requested.
	Information on numbers of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw NHS England area, as at 30 November 2012 and 2013, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Of which: 
			  All qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff Community matrons Health visitors District nurses Community psychiatric nurses Community learning disabilities nurses 
			  2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 
			 South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Area Team 11,216 11,261 37 36 281 296 123 114 868 846 134 105 
			 Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (FT) 901 891 — — — — — — — — —  
			 Barnsley Primary Care Trust (PCT) 14 — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS FT 1,494 1,533 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Doncaster PCT 18 — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NHS Barnsley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) — 5 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NHS Bassetlaw CCG — 3 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NHS Doncaster CCG — 6 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NHS Rotherham CCG — 3 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NHS Sheffield CCG — 7 — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS FT 1,212 1,180 — — 82 82 35 28 249 249 73 44 
			 Rotherham NHS FT 1,120 1,099 13 11 43 42 31 30 — — — — 
			 Rotherham PCT 10 — — — — — — — — 2 — — 
			 Sheffield Children's NHS FT 689 736 — — 91 99 — — 17 17 1 1 
			 Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS FT 508 498 — — 3 3 — — 161 148 12 13 
			 Sheffield PCT 44 — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT 3,760 3,884 14 15 — — 35 36 — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT 1,446 1,417 10 10 62 70 22 20 439 432 49 48 
			 ‘—’ denotes zero. 1. Figures are full-time equivalent (FTE). FTE figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within the organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 3. A few NHS organisations, such as Barnsley PCT, existed within the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) database with small numbers of staff as a result of the impact of Transforming Community. Services and the resultant system mergers and de-mergers which were still ongoing at the time of the 2012 census 4. As from 21 July 2010, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. 5. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the ESR (i.e. it does not include primary care staff or bank staff). 6. There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the Health and Social Care Information website: www.hscic..gov.uk Sources: Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics.

Nurses: South Yorkshire

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered nurses there were in each NHS trust in South Yorkshire in the last five years for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: Information on numbers of qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in each NHS trust in the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw NHS England Area, as at 30 September each specified year and 30 November 2013, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (FT) 779 833 815 825 862 891 
			 Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS FT 1,549 1,528 1,569 1,595 1,476 1,533 
			 Rotherham NHS FT 795 842 902 1,161 1,120 1,099 
			 Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS FT 718 721 681 1,152 1,192 1,180 
			 Sheffield Children's NHS FT 449 482 530 667 673 736 
			 Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS FT 509 514 511 522 511 498 
			 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT 3,482 3,548 3,515 3,816 3,710 3,884 
			 South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT 845 858 853 845 1,448 1,417 
			 Total 9,127 9,326 9,376 10,583 10,992 11,238 
			 1 As at November Notes: 1. Figures are full-time equivalent (FTE). FTE figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within the organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 3. The 2013 annual census is not published until March 2014. 4. In 2012, as part of Transforming Community Services, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT absorbed staff and services from Barnsley primary care trust. 5. As from 21 July 2010, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. 6. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record (i.e. it does not include primary care staff or bank staff). 7. There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the Health and Social Care Information Website: www.hscic.gov.uk Source: 1. September 2008-2012 figures: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2008-2012 figures 2. November 2013 figures: Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics

Nursing and Midwifery Council

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that future grants from his Department to the Nursing and Midwifery Council should be subject to agreement of a cap on registration fees for newly-qualified nurses.

Daniel Poulter: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is an independent body and it is therefore for the NMC to determine the level of the annual fee it charges for registration. However, the Department is clear that we would not expect NMC registration fees to increase beyond their current levels, unless there is a clear and robust business case that any increase is essential to ensure the exercise of statutory duties. In February 2013, the Government awarded a grant of £20 million to the NMC to support improvement activities and enable the NMC to protect nurses and midwives from the full impact of a proposed annual registration fee rise for two years.

Obesity

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish age-stratified data on predicted reduction of life expectancy attributable to obesity.

Jane Ellison: There are no current plans to produce age-stratified data on the predicted reduction of life expectancy attributable to obesity. We know that excess weight, along with poor diet and inactivity has a major impact on people's health and is a cause of chronic diseases, which can lead to premature mortality.
	e have set national ambitions for a downward trend in excess weight by 2020 and are seeing encouraging signs of progress. Obesity rates in children have fallen to 14% in 2012, the lowest level of child obesity since 1998, but we still have much further to go.
	Determining age grouped data on predicted reduction of life expectancy attributable to obesity would be a very complex calculation, requiring assumptions about, for example, how many obese children remain obese throughout their lives, the profile of the ages at which adults become obese, and the health impact—and thus the life expectancy impact—of being obese for different periods of time, for example, being obese since childhood through to late middle age.
	Moderate obesity (BMI 30-35 kg/m2) has been found to reduce life expectancy by an average of three years, while morbid obesity (BMI 40-50 kg/ kg/m2) reduces life expectancy by eight to 10 years. (National Obesity Observatory briefing note: Obesity and life expectancy, August 2010)
	www.noo.org.uk/uploads/doc/vid_7199_Obesity_and_life_expectancy.pdf

Obesity

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who is responsible for commissioning Tier 3 obesity treatment for (a) children and adolescents and (b) adults.

Jane Ellison: There are different models of commissioning currently in place at a local level for children, adolescents, and adult services. In some areas obesity services, including tier 3 services, are being commissioned by either local authorities or clinical commissioning groups or in collaboration.
	Public Health England and NHS England, in response to concerns expressed about the varied commissioning and access to multi-disciplinary team interventions, commonly referred to as tier 3 services,, established a working group to consider and make recommendations on how the current pathway and commissioning arrangements for tier 3 might be improved.
	The working group report is shortly due to be published.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect on access to medicines of his Department's pharmaceutical price regulation scheme; what steps he is taking to improve access to medicines through the scheme; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the 2014 pharmaceutical price regulation scheme on departmental spending; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what recent discussions officials in his Department have had on the potential effect of departmental expenditure limits on the operation of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme agreed in November 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation scheme (PPRS), a voluntary scheme agreed with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) controls the prices of the majority of branded medicines supplied to the national health service. The 2014 scheme is based on an allowed, agreed growth rate for branded medicines spend for the five years of the scheme; for 2014 and 2015 the allowed growth rate is zero %; for 2016 and 2017 it is 1.8%; and for 2018 it is 1.9%. Companies that are members of the scheme will make payments to the Department based on the formula set out in the PPRS; these payments will be treated as departmental income. In respect of England, the anticipated payments in 2014-15 have been passed on to NHS England through the mandate and as such are included within commissioner allocations.
	The Government is committed to increasing access to clinically and cost-effective medicines and to improving patient outcomes. Therefore, one of the overarching objectives of the PPRS is to improve access to innovative medicines commensurate with the outcomes they offer patients by ensuring that medicines approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are available widely in the NHS. The scheme includes a number of agreed measures aimed at supporting this objective. In addition, there are discussions with the ABPI to consider further how best the PPRS can support improved access to these medicines.
	In supporting these discussions, the Department has made it clear that the PPRS does not affect the operation of government accounting and budgeting rules. The PPRS operates within standard government accounting and budgeting rules, including annual departmental expenditure limits.

Pharmacy

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department paid in fees and allowances to pharmacies in each of the last three years.

Norman Lamb: Total expenditure on fees and allowances paid to pharmacy contractors in England, for each of the last three complete financial years, is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Total fees and allowance payments to pharmacy contractors 
			  £ million 
			 2010-11 1,883 
			 2011-12 1,972 
			 2012-13 1,983 
			 Notes: 1. Figures do not include Local Enhanced Services. 2. Figures include the New Medicine Service introduced in October 2011. Source: NHS Business Services Authority.

Public Health England Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, columns 460-1W, on floods: health hazards, how many people are employed as part of the Public Health England Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Team; and what the job titles and main duties of those people are.

Jane Ellison: The Public Health England Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team lies within the ‘Centre for Infectious Disease Control’ division, in the 'Health Protection' directorate.
	The staff employed within the team, their time contribution and main duties are illustrated as follows.
	
		
			 Position Time contribution (FTE–full-time equivalent) Main activities 
			 Consultant epidemiologist 0.7 Daily interpretation of real-time general practitioner (GP), emergency department and telehealth data, leadership and strategic direction of the team and developing the real-time systems. 
			 Project Lead 1.0 Daily interpretation of real-time GP, emergency department and telehealth data, contributing to strategic direction of team and leading delivery of day to day service. 
			 Statistical Lead 1.0 Daily interpretation of real-time GP, emergency department and telehealth data, leading development of statistical processes and delivery of day to day service. 
			 Scientist 2.0 Daily analysis of real-time GP, emergency department and telehealth data, contributing to delivery of surveillance service and undertaking research and development activities. 
			 Information Officer 2.0 Daily analysis of real-time GP, emergency "department and telehealth data, development and management of information technology infrastructure and data management. 
			 Administrator 1.0 Personal Assistant to consultant epidemiologist and providing team administrative support. 
			 Business support manager 0.4 Business support and contributing strategic direction of team.

Public Health England Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, columns 460-1W, on floods: health hazards, if he will (a) publish and (b) place in the Library copies of all the advice given to him since 1 November 2013 by the Public Health England Real Time Syndromic Surveillance Team.

Jane Ellison: The Public Health England (PHE) Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team have been monitoring consultations for defined syndromes in a range, of health care services to identify potential public health issues during the 2014 floods. This surveillance has been completed as part of a wider PHE ‘Flooding Surveillance Cell’ which has included the surveillance of flood-related events and laboratory reporting of gastrointestinal pathogens. The main messages and findings from the PHE Flooding Surveillance Reports produced by this surveillance cell have been incorporated into the national flooding Situation Reports (completed by the National Incident Co-ordination Centre) which has been reported to the Department and Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms through the routine incident control pathways.
	Versions of the PHE Flooding Surveillance Report have been made publically available on the legacy Health Protection Agency website:
	www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/EmergencyResponse/ExtremeWeatherEventsAndNaturalDisasters/EffectsOfFlooding/
	The available PHE Flooding Surveillance Reports have been placed in the Library.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Electricity

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 391, on energy prices, how many electricity suppliers there were in each year since 1998 in the (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic market.

Michael Fallon: Data are available for the number of suppliers of both domestic and non-domestic electricity from 1998 to 2012 in section 7 of the UK Energy Sector Indicators 2013 published at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-energy-sector-indicators-2013

Electricity Interconnectors: Iceland

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress his Department has made on plans for an interconnector to Iceland.

Michael Fallon: The Government is interested in exploring the possible mutual benefit of an interconnector between the UK and Iceland. Following a general election in Iceland in April 2013 the new Government submitted the project to the Icelandic Parliament for a review. I met with the Icelandic Energy Minister Ragnheiôur Elín Árnadóttir on 10 March and I hope that discussions between the two Governments can begin.

Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 391, on energy prices, what estimate his Department has made of the current market share of each energy supplier that has entered the domestic supply market since 2010.

Michael Fallon: This Department does not hold the specific data requested.
	Ofgem publishes data on market share in Great Britain in its annual National Report to the Commission. The 2013 National Report shows that in 2012 there were 12 small suppliers active in the domestic supply market, with a combined market share of 2%:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/82755/2013greatbritainandnorthernirelandnationalreportstotheeuropean commission.pdf
	Of the 12 suppliers, Co-Operative Energy, Economy Energy, Flow Energy and iSupply Energy entered the market in 2010 or later.

Energy Company Obligation

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North West Leicestershire of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 388, on energy company obligation, what the evidential basis is for the statement that more households will receive measures under the energy company obligation as a result of the changes to the scheme.

Gregory Barker: As set out in the consultation on the Future of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) published on 5 March 2014, we are proposing to extend ECO until March 2017.
	The assessment of impact we have published as part of the consultation indicates that extending the targets at the current level of ambition (subject to the proposed reduction in the Carbon Emissions Reduction target) would mean that an additional 930,000 households will benefit from ECO measures by March 2017.

Energy: Competition

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Wirral South of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 398, on energy prices, what the evidential basis is for the statement that independent generators are not interested in increasing liquidity on the next-day market.

Michael Fallon: Responses from independent generators to Ofgem's proposed obligation to trade minimum volumes on the day-ahead auctions indicated that most independent generators were comfortable with the level of trading in the day-ahead market and did not support regulation in this area. They did, however, want to see improvements in forward market liquidity to enable them to compete. This is what Ofgem's liquidity reforms announced on 22 February.
	Responses can be found at:
	www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/wholesale-power-market-liquidity-consultation-secure-and-promote-licence-condition?docid=324&refer=Markets/RetMkts/rmr

Energy: Meters

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of smart meters installed in UK households that will be replaced during mass roll-out to meet agreed interoperability standards.

Michael Fallon: DECC releases statistics on a quarterly basis which detail meter installations by the larger energy suppliers. The latest release details installations up to the end of quarter 3 2013, and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistical-release-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2013
	For the purposes of statistical reporting, smart meters are defined as those that are, or are expected to be, compliant with the technical specifications (SMETS) defined by Government to support the smart meter roll-out. At the end of quarter 3 2013 a total of 200,400 smart meters had been installed in domestic properties by the larger energy suppliers. Suppliers have indicated that most, if not all, of these meters will need to receive software updates, which are expected to be delivered remotely, before they are fully SMETS compliant. Once the meters have received these updates, they will not need to be replaced during mass roll-out.

Energy: Meters

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many UK households currently have smart meters installed.

Michael Fallon: DECC releases statistics on a quarterly basis which detail total smart meter installations by the larger energy suppliers, but does not collect or publish information on the actual number of households with smart meters. The latest release details installations up to the end of quarter 3 2013, and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistical-release-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2013
	At the end of quarter 3 2013 a total of 200,400 smart meters had been installed in domestic properties by the larger energy suppliers, of which 117,500 are electricity and 82,900 are gas. We understand that, to date, suppliers have generally targeted dual fuel installations (i.e. installing both gas and electricity smart meters at the same property).

Energy: Prices

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate the average percentage of household expenditure spent on energy bills in (a) Coventry, (b) Coventry North East constituency, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.

Gregory Barker: Data on household expenditure is only available at Government Office Region level. The following table shows the average proportion of household expenditure on energy bills in the West Midlands and England.
	
		
			 Average percentage of household expenditure on energy bills 
			  West Midlands England 
			 2007-09 4.4 4.0 
			 2010-12 5.0 4.4 
		
	
	These figures include expenditure on electricity, gas and other household fuels, but exclude expenditure on petrol and diesel. They are based on data from the Living Costs and Food Survey, which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Due to the small number of households in each region within the survey, results are averaged across a three year period. The latest data available is for the period 2010-12.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 400, on extreme weather events, if he will publish the terms of reference of the review of the fourth carbon budget.

Gregory Barker: The scope of the Fourth Carbon Budget review was laid out by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in his statement to Parliament on 17 May 2011, when announcing that, as advised by the Committee on Climate Change, Government had decided that net emissions over the Fourth Carbon Budget period should not exceed 1950 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent—a 50% reduction from 1990 levels.
	In making this statement, the Secretary of State explained that:
	“Under the Climate Change Act, emissions reductions by the UK's industrial and power sectors are determined by the UK's share of the EU Emissions Trading System cap. This protects UK industrial and power sectors from exceeding EU requirements. However if the EU ETS cap is insufficiently ambitious, this could mean placing disproportionate strain on other sectors outside the EU ETS such as transport. To overcome this and to provide clearer signals for businesses and investors, government committed to review progress towards the EU emissions goal in early 2014”.
	The review is being taken forward in line with this announced scope.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the setting of targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be discussed at the European Council summit on 20 March 2014.

Gregory Barker: The Government believes that the European Council should agree a binding EU domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 40% on 1990 levels for 2030, and make an offer to move to a target of up to 50% in the context of a comprehensive global agreement on climate change.

Internet

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what services his Department provides that are (a) available online only and (b) planned to move to online only.

Gregory Barker: The Department has the following services that are provided only online:
	Consumer facing services:
	Service for retrieving Green Deal Advice Reports. Printed versions can be provided by the Green Deal Assessor.
	Business facing services:
	Green Deal
	Green Deal Plan Tool for Green Deal Providers to add details of measure installed on a Green Deal Plan.
	Green Deal Improvement Package tool, for Green Deal Assessors and Providers
	Product Application Process for the Energy Technology List - (Manufacturers applying for energy efficiency products to be included on the ETL)
	Emissions Trading
	EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) platform—aimed at large corporations (e.g. investment firms, credit institutions)
	Oil and Gas Industry
	Decommissioning Liability Section 29 Notices
	Energy Act Part 4A Applications
	Environmental and Emissions Monitoring returns—Submission by industry
	Environmental directions under the Offshore Petroleum Production and Pipe-lines (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1999 (as amended)
	Field production, flaring and venting consents
	Marine and Coastal Access Act Applications
	Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005—Applications
	Petroleum Licence Administration
	Petroleum Licence Applications Received:
	Petroleum Operations Notice No. l (Notifications and Permits)
	Petroleum Operations Notice No. 14 (Habitats Regs) Applications
	Rig Stabilisation (Rock Dumping) Applications
	Stewardship production efficiency returns for oil/gas fields
	Well Operation Notifications System—Applications
	Well Operation Notifications System—Consents and notifications issued
	These are aimed at the Oil and Gas industry and have alternative offline emergency procedures in place if required.
	The Department does not have any plans to make any further services only available digitally. In line with the Government Digital by Default strategy we are seeking to move services online and to increase the use of services digitally. We do however seek to ensure that alternative assisted digital services are available for those unable to take advantage of the digital services.

Natural Gas

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 391, on energy prices, how many gas suppliers there were in each year since 1996 in the (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic market.

Michael Fallon: Data are available for the number of companies supplying gas broken down by Domestic, Commercial and Industrial sector in section 7 of the UK Energy Sector Indicators 2013, published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254261/ukesi_2013.pdf

North Sea Oil

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the level of unextracted reserves of North Sea oil.

Michael Fallon: The Department's latest estimates of recoverable reserves relate to the end of 2012. They are published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data#uk-oil-and-gas-reserves
	The central estimate of oil reserves in the North sea is 546 million tonnes of which 338 million tonnes are in the central North sea and 208 million tonnes are in the northern North sea.

North Sea Oil

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much was invested in exploration for new oil fields in the North Sea in each of the last 10 financial years.

Michael Fallon: Information is available only on the total cost of exploration and appraisal activity in the UK and on the UK continental shelf including both drilling and seismic acquisition and processing. Expenditure in 2013 is estimated to have been £1.6 billion. Estimates for earlier years are tabulated at:
	https://www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data#ukcs-income-and-expenditure
	Much of this expenditure will have been related to looking for new gas fields, looking for new oil fields west of Britain and appraising existing discoveries.

Offshore Industry

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the amount of recoverable oil and gas reserves beneath the UK Continental Shelf.

Michael Fallon: The Department's latest estimates of recoverable reserves relate to the end of 2012. They are published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data#uk-oil-and-gas-reserves
	For oil, the central estimate of reserves is 811 million tonnes (6.1 billion barrels); for gas, it is 461 billion cubic metres (2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent [boe]).
	The Government website also contains estimates of possible reserves, potential additional resources and undiscovered resources. Taking account of this range of possibilities, our current best estimate of remaining recoverable hydrocarbon resources from the UK Continental Shelf is of a figure up to 20 billion boe.

Offshore Industry

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he has taken to ensure greater transparency and fairness in the tendering process for UK Continental Shelf projects.

Michael Fallon: Regular contact is maintained with operators to gain a better understanding of the tendering process in order to improve transparency and the level of UK content in contracts. Significant success from this approach is now apparent, especially in the fabrication sector. Most recently I have established a cross party group of MPs chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) to promote the future success of the UK oil and gas industry throughout the entire value chain of UKCS projects.

Offshore Industry

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the current level of investment is in exploration projects in the UK Continental Shelf; and what assessment he had made of trends in future investment.

Michael Fallon: Information is available only on the total cost of exploration and appraisal (E and A) activity in the UK and on the UKCS including both drilling and seismic acquisition and processing. Expenditure in 2013 is estimated to have been £1.6 billion with latest estimates for 2014 of £1.4 billion and £1.8 billion per annum from 2015 to 2018 (all in 2013 prices); these estimates are inherently uncertain and are based on DECC's assessment of operator returns to the latest joint annual DECC/Oil and Gas UK E and A Activity Survey conducted in late 2013.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of (a) the efficacy and (b) the running costs of air exhaust heat pumps installed in social and council housing.

Gregory Barker: The Department has not made any specific assessments of exhaust air heat pumps (EAHPs). This type of heat pump is not a renewable technology and is not subsidised through the Renewable Heat Incentive. DECC part-funded a study in the efficiency and usability of exhaust air-source heat pumps in social housing flats and published a report last summer, which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/examination-of-performance-of-air-source-heat-pumps-in-a-london-social-housing-block
	EAHPs are also modelled in the Standard Assessment Procedure 2009 and 2012, which provides a means of using manufacturers’ data to estimate the efficiency of such heating systems.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he plans to include gas absorption heat pumps in the Renewable Heat Incentive.

Gregory Barker: As part of the review of the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), we are looking at additional technologies that could be supported under the scheme. We have commissioned contracts to start work on gathering evidence on a number of technologies, including gas-driven heat pumps; which include gas absorption heat pumps. Before any new technology is added to the RHI, our proposals to do so will be the subject of a public consultation.
	The domestic RHI will be introduced this spring. Gas absorption heat pumps will not be supported under the scheme at its introduction.
	We published details of the domestic scheme last summer; and, among those documents is 4New Technologies: Process towards eligibility':
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/renewable-heat-incentive-proposals-for-a-domestic-scheme
	This provides guidance on the criteria and evidence that DECC would expect to consider when deciding whether to include additional technologies under the domestic (and non-domestic) RHI in the future.

Wind Power

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the effect of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind turbines on the average domestic energy bill.

Michael Fallon: In March 2013 the Government published estimates of the impact of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills.1 The report estimated that in 2013 supporting major renewable electricity projects through the renewables obligation (RO) accounted, on average, for around 2% (£30) of the annual household energy (gas plus electricity) bill. Of this, onshore and offshore wind each account for around 0.7% (£9, all figures in real 2012 prices).
	The report also estimated that, on average, around 1% (£7) of the household energy bill in 2013 went towards supporting small-scale installations through feed-in tariffs (FITs). Wind installations are estimated to make up a small proportion of this cost, less than £1 in 2013.
	It should also be noted that onshore and offshore wind generation help put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices, because they have very low operating costs.
	1 https://www.gov.uk/policy-impacts-on-prices-and-bills

Wind Power

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on compensatory forestry planting to mitigate deforestation undertaken as a result of wind turbine construction.

Michael Fallon: The potential impacts of wind farm developments and any mitigation measures that might reduce or remove those impacts are considered on a case-by-case basis during the assessment of any applications for planning permission or development consent.

Wind Power

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost was of manufacturing (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind turbines in the UK in 2013; and what return on capital was used as a basis for fixing current subsidies to generators using these sources.

Michael Fallon: Although DECC does not specifically hold estimates of the manufacturing costs of onshore and offshore wind, DECC has published levelised costs estimates of various generation technologies on the DECC website since 2010. The levelised cost of a particular generation technology is the ratio of the total costs (including construction and operating costs) of a generic plant to the total amount of electricity expected to be generated over the plant's lifetime (per megawatt hour). These are available on the following website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-generation-cost-projections
	DECC's most recently published figures for current and future levelised costs are available in the DECC Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013) report:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269888/131217_Electricity_Generation_ costs_report_December_2013_Final.pdf
	Table 1 is taken from this report, and shows a range of levelised cost estimates for onshore and offshore wind projects commissioning in 2014 and 2016, evaluated using technology specific hurdle rates.
	
		
			 Table 1: Levelised cost estimates for onshore and offshore wind, technology specific hurdle rates (see table 3 for further details), sensitivities around high/low capital costs 
			 £/MWh £2012 Projects commissioning in 2014 (£/MWh) Projects commissioningin 2016 (£/MWh) 
			 Onshore Wind >5MW UK 75-115 69-104 
			 Offshore R2 Wind 131-168 117-151 
		
	
	
		
			 Offshore R3 Wind 144-189 131-172 
		
	
	Levelised cost estimates for different types of electricity generation are highly sensitive to the assumptions used for capital costs, fuel and EU ETS allowance prices, operating costs, load factor, discount rate and other drivers and this means that there is significant uncertainty around these estimates.
	Table 20 of the DECC Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013) also contains estimates for the pre-development and construction (capital) costs of selected technologies. The capital cost range for onshore and offshore wind projects commissioning in 2016 is given in table 2:
	
		
			 Table 2: Capital cost estimates for onshore and offshore wind projects commissioning in 2016 
			 £/KW £2012 Projects commissioning in 2016 (£/KW) 
			 Onshore Wind >5 MW UK 1130-2040 
			 Offshore R2 Wind 2150-3020 
			 Offshore R3 Wind 2250-3250 
		
	
	Finally in setting support rates through Contracts for Difference, DECC made the following assumptions on the required return (hurdle rates) for onshore and offshore wind projects, this is also shown in table 14 of the DECC Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013):
	
		
			 Table 3: Pre-tax real hurdle rates for onshore and offshore wind projects under Contracts for Difference 
			  Pre-tax real hurdle rates under Contracts for Difference (%) 
			 Onshore wind 7.1 
			 Offshore wind 9.7 
			 Offshore wind Round 3 10.1

Wind Power

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what evidence his Department uses to determine the effect on local communities of noise, flicker and value reduction of property in relation to wind turbines.

Gregory Barker: The Department routinely reviews reports on the possible impacts of wind turbines from statutory advisers, agencies, academia and other expert sources in order to monitor the impacts of current policy and to inform new policy.
	When making planning decisions on onshore wind farms above 50MW, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), considers evidence put forward as part of the planning process for each application and is guided by the National Policy Statements EN1—Overarching Energy1 and EN3—Renewable Energy Infrastructure2.
	1 Available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/37046/1938-overarching-nps-for-energy-en1.pdf
	2 Available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/37048/1940-nps-renewable-energy-en3.pdf